Travellers were left without a water supply for eight weeks at a site where they were staying with council approval.

The two families, ten adults and ten children, were given six litres of water each by Brighton and Hove City Council on Christmas Eve.

But they were given no other supplies after being moved to the site, at Sheepcote Valley, Brighton, in early November.

Council plumbers connected the supply yesterday, after the absence of clean water emerged at Brighton County Court.

Ann Dean, who represented the travellers at the eviction hearing, claimed council officials had promised piped water before the families agreed to move there.

She said the nearest public supply was at a cemetery more than a mile away.

"I think the council has acted unethically, inhumanely and also unlawfully.

"It has shown no empathy for the people there and it did promise it would supply water taps when it moved the travellers on to the site."

Government guidelines recommend councils provide clean water at sites being used by travellers for more than a week, or where there are children or people with health problems.

One of the travellers, who asked not to be named, said: "It is unhygenic, everyone wants to wash, everyone wants to drink water.

"It is like putting someone in a council house and not giving them water."

The council said they had been allowed to stay at the site because some travellers had health problems. Laying on water had been more complex than expected.

Its bid to have the two families evicted was adjourned by the county court.

A High Court hearing is scheduled later this month into the council's failure to process homelessness applications by some of the travellers.