COUNCIL bosses facing budget cuts of up to 40 per cent have spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash on bottled water.

Figures obtained by the Express under the Freedom of Information act shows Dover District Council (DDC) spent £14,000 in three years on bottled water, water coolers and filtration machines.

This outlay comes despite the fact bottled water can be up to a thousand times more expensive than getting it straight out of a tap.

DDC, which has frozen pay and is looking at significant cuts in coming months, spent £4,786 in 2007, £4,739 in 2008 and £4,498 in 2009 on water at its offices.

Bottled water has been the subject of much opposition from campaigners in recent years because of the cost to the environment caused by discarded plastic and the large carbon footprint produced compared to tap water.

The cash-strapped authority's spending has drawn criticism from a group representing tax payers.

Emma Boon, spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance, told the Express: "Taxpayers will be furious that at a time when the Government is talking about making big spending cuts the council is spending money on luxuries like bottled water.

"Council tax has doubled in the last decade, but this money is not being spent on better services for local people, it's being wasted on unnecessary extras like this."

"Tap water is much cheaper and perfectly clean. I'm sure most council workers think it's good enough to drink it at home so they should drink it at work too, or buy their own water."

DDC insisted the spending, the majority of which went on plumbed-in water filtration and cooling machines, represents value for money.

A spokesman said: "The use of water filtration represents good value, prevents waste of water, and is normal practice for large buildings. Large containers of bottled water are used as an alternative at smaller sites."