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Leakage levels

Water leakage levels scarcely seem to have been out of the headlines in the last few years after the droughts of 1995 and 1996. However the leakage rate in England and Wales has actually fallen by an average of 8% between 1992/3 and 1996/7. Despite this decline, over four and a half billion litres of water was lost on a daily basis last year through leaking pipes and inefficient distribution. Nearly everyone in the UK could have a bath in the volume of water lost every day.

The national figure also masks differences between companies. Some, like Thames Water, which is the "leakiest" company in the country, have had a huge increase of 35% in its leakage levels, while others have managed to reduce their losses by more than 20%. Ofwat is pushing for a much steeper reduction in leakage rates and has set tough targets for all the companies to reach. There is no available data on leaks in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and no targets have been set there.

Leakage levels by company, 1992/3 to 1996/7 (million litres per day)

	1992-3	1996-7	% change
Anglian	212	213	0.5
Dwr Cymru	383	357	-6.8
N.West	945	666	-29.5
Northumbrian	180	192	6.7
Severn Trent	570	479	-16.0
S.West	158	129	-18.4
Southern	161	113	-29.8
Thames	803	1,083	34.9
Wessex	137	129	-5.8
Yorkshire	494	420	-15.0
WaSC total	4,042	3,780	-6.5
B'mouth & W Hampshire	26.9	28.5	5.9
Bristol	50.8	64.8	27.6
Cambridge	16.1	15.9	-1.2
Chester	6.3	5.2	-17.5
Essex&Suffolk	95.9	84.8	-11.6
F'stone&Dover	14.3	11.6	-18.9
Hartlepool	5	6	20.0
Mid Kent	39.5	38.2	-3.3
Mid Southern	52.7	58	10.1
N.Surrey	29.7	27.5	-7.4
Portsmouth	33.4	30.5	-8.7
S.East	36.9	40.9	10.8
S.Staffs	83.1	90.1	8.4
S'ton&E.Surrey	34.7	27.2	-21.6
Tendring Hund.	5.6	6.3	12.5
Three Valleys	175.3	171.9	-1.9
Wrexham	7.6	7.8	2.6
York	11.1	9.8	-11.7
WoC total	725	724.9	0.0
Industry total	4,767	4,505	-5.5

Source: Ofwat, 1996/7 report on leakage and water efficiency