A tale here of two local councils and their contrasting approaches to the pressing issue of water usage.
Following a government campaign announced earlier this year, Westminster council have binned bottled water from their offices in favour of glugging straight from the tap (via a glass or plastic receptacle, of course). They estimate that doing so will save them in the region of £12,000. The council has also vowed to replace pre-bottled water at meetings with re-usable ones.
A gold star for Westminster then, but a black cross to their northern counterparts in Haringey, where, despite having perfectly good access to a mains tap water, councillors have sloshed their way through £42,000 of bottled water over the past three years. The fiends! This eye-watering figure emerged after questioning from a Lib Dem councillor, who immediately used it to wash out the mouths of his shamed Labour counterparts.
What does our Mayor think about all this agua anguish? He's sidestepped Ken's tap water crusade, but has had another brainwave: Water fountains in parks and public spaces. He has tasked special advisor Sir Simon Milton to scout out suitable locations for the new generation of watering holes and estimate the cost.
Seems like a sound plan to us. Cripes, it's almost as if Boris believes all this enviro-nonsense!
Image courtesy of Sebastian Joseph's Flickrstream
