Livingstone urges bottled water boycott

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Londoners should boycott bottled water in favour of cheaper, better-tasting and more environmentally friendly tap water, Mayor Ken Livingstone said on Tuesday.

Bottled water served with meals in London costs 500 times more than tap water and is 300 times more damaging to the environment, he claimed.

Launching his "London on Tap" blitz on Tuesday, Livingstone said using fewer bottles would help climate change.

Bottled water, he added, left a higher carbon footprint -- some imported brands travel from as far as New Zealand -- and he urged consumers not to be embarrassed about asking for tap water in restaurants.

"We need to do everything we can to lower these (carbon) emissions," he told reporters.

"There is no need to buy the expensive bottled water that has become a bit of a fad in recent years."

His announcement, the latest in a line of green initiatives unveiled in the run-up to May elections in which Livingstone is standing, was backed by green and consumer groups and by London utility company Thames Water.

It follows comments by Environment Minister, Phil Woolas, in a BBC Panorama documentary programme on Monday in which he condemned the bottled water industry as "daft" and "morally unacceptable".