Water is being gulped down by Haringey Council at a rate of £14,000 a year.

Over the past three years the borough's councillors and officers have drowned in £42,000 of bottled water, despite having access to mains tap water.

The council was forced into admitting the sum it spends each year on watering its staff in reponse to a question from Liberal Democrat councillor, Jonathan Bloch.

The Lib Dems criticised the council for wasting taxpayers' money on unsustainable products and failing to follow its own green agenda.

Lib Dem evironment spokesman Councillor Ed Butcher said: "Apart from the money Haringey Council is wasting, I am appalled by the unnecessary impact to the environment.

"As Haringey Labour sit in meetings struggling to come up with ideas to make the council more sustainable, they are completely oblivious to the water bottles sat on the table in front of them.

"They obviously do not have a clue when it comes to even the most simple solutions to make the council greener."

Muswell Hill ward councillor, Jonathan Bloch, added: "Yet again we see the wastefulness of Haringey Labour. They appear happy to pour council taxpayers' money down the drain on unnecessary luxuries such as bottled water, while at the same time presiding over one of the highest council tax rates in London and implementing inflation busting charges on numerous services.

"Why cannot the council make do with tap water, as the vast majority of Haringey's residents do and if they are unhappy with the water quality the council should complain to Ofwat."

The Divine Water Company supplies bottled water coolers for Haringey Council at a cost of £14,000 a year.

After a survey carried out by the company, the council plans to install mains-fed coolers in areas where this is possible in council buildings in the next six months. They could not, however, provide us with a figure for how much this would cost.

Councillor Charles Adje, cabinet member for resources, said: "As I made clear in March when this issue was raised, where possible we are replacing stand alone bottled water coolers with water supplies from the mains.

"The whole point of this initiative is to carry out sustainable procurement and make savings from changing to mains fed coolers where ever possible."