A COUNTY council has come under fire for spending tens of thousands of pounds of public money on water coolers.

Disclosures showed North Yorkshire County Council spent almost £53,000 on the luxury in the past financial year.

The expenditure has been criticised by the member of the public who discovered it, as well as a group set up to protect taxpayers’ interests.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance called on the council to encourage councillors and employees to switch to tap water.

The council, which has its headquarters at County Hall, in Northallerton, said drinkable tap water was available in its buildings, but only in a small number of locations, such as the toilets.

North Yorkshire resident Malcolm Watson discovered that the council had spent £52,880 on water coolers for use by employees and councillors.

Mr Watson said: “The water board spends millions cleaning water for drinking.

“If people do not like tap water, let them buy their own bottles of water.

“Better still, sell it in council offices and make a profit.”

A council spokesman said: “The annual expenditure on water and water coolers is equivalent to around seven and a half pence per week for each employee.

“Tap water is not a viable alternative source of drinking water for most of our employees, for the simple reason that, in most of our office accommodation, it is only available in a small number of places – for example, in the toilets.

“In common with very many large organisations, we provide drinking water in the offices where our employees carry out their duties.

“However, whenever we refurbish an office building or construct a new one, we take the opportunity to install tap water coolers rather than bottled water.”

Matthew Sinclair, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “With council taxpayers struggling to make ends meet in the recession, councils need to do everything they can to ease the burden.”