HAMPSHIRE County Council hit the national headlines last week for its perceived extravagance in spending more than £141,000 a year on bottled water. But it is an expenditure that council leader Ken Thorber believes is "justified". Hampshire's water bubble was burst after a BBC Panorama investigation on February 18 revealed that the county council was top of a list of bottled water expenditure by local authorities in England and Wales. The programme sought to investigate the monetary and environmental costs of bottled water consumption in the UK. It found that councils had a bill totalling more than £5m and that Hampshire was the prime user, having spent a staggering £141,215 on bottled water between November 2006 and October 2007. At the opposite end of the scale, in 376th place, East Hampshire District Council pointed out that it did not have any bottled water machines at its Penns Place offices in Petersfield. While environmental watchdog Sustain claimed that bottled water is "unnecessary, expensive and damaging to the environment", Mr Thornber had a different view. He told Panorama that even though the county council had cut its bottled water usage, his staff were entitled to it. He told the BBC: "Hampshire County Council is the third largest shire authority in the country, serving more than 1.2 million people. "We would expect to be spending more on bottled water than other authorities that are not comparable in size. We accept that we need to reduce our use of bottled water to save money and be more sustainable." UK Environment Minister Phil Woolas has described the amount the country spends on bottled water as "morally unacceptable" and is urging people to use tap water instead.