COUNCIL bosses were accused of extravagance this week after spending £277,000 on bottled water in the last five years.
But Wakefield Council has defended its expenditure on drinking water, which was as high as £74,216 in the financial year 2005/06.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show £277,619 was spent on bottled water, plastic cups and main
tenance of water coolers in five years.
The expense was condemned by the Taxpayers Alliance, which campaigns for greater efficiency in local authorities, as an unnecessary luxury when tap water could instead be drunk by staff and visitors.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the campaign group, described the figure as 'ludicrous'.
He said: "Some councils manage perfectly well with tap water and Wakefield should follow their example. The era of local government extravagance must come to an end, and luxuries such as these should be the first to go."
The council has 29 water towers in the town hall and 39 in City Hall, supplying drinking water in meeting rooms and public areas.
Bottled water expenditure was £69,816 in 2004/05, rising to £74,216 the following year. The figure then fell over the next three years, to £56,227 in 2006/07, £38,397 the following year and £38,371 in 2008/09.
In each of the last two years, around £4,500 was for drinking water in schools. The figure could not be provided for previous years.
Wakefield Council said that as the biggest employer in the district, it had a duty to provide easily accessible drinking water for its 13,000 employees.
A spokesman said: "Sometimes tap water is not easily accessible, especially in our older buildings.
"We are reducing the numbers of premises we occupy as part of our Worksmart programme to modernise and streamline ways of working and providing public services. Value for money provision of drinking water will be included in the design of new council offices and the refurbishment of older offices."
