City’s £174k bill for water

THE city council has spent £174,050 on mineral water for staff in the last three years, new figures have revealed.

It blamed “antiquated” pipework in old buildings for the bill, which has been paid to several different firms.

A council spokeswoman said: “The council has a duty to provide safe drinking water to approximately 17,000 employees. Some of our premises have antiquated pipe work which means providing drinkable tap water is not always possible.”