Water
(asked on 7th September 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will estimate how much water was lost due to leaks in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
The total amount of water leaked from water companies’ supply networks in each of the last ten years are shown in the following table. This information is based on Environment Agency analysis of data from water companies that operate wholly or mainly in England. Recent leakage figures are available on Discover Water: https://discoverwater.co.uk/leaking-pipes.
Year | Total leakage (Millions of litres / day) |
2008-09 | 3088 |
2009-10 | 3084 |
2010-11 | 3156 |
2011-12 | 2949 |
2012-13 | 2963 |
2013-14 | 2916 |
2014-15 | 2942 |
2015-16 | 2896 |
2016-17 | 2918 |
2017-18 | 2986 |
The Secretary of State for the Environment in July called in water company Chief Executives who did not meet their leakage targets this year to explain this failure and what actions they were taking to improve their performance, particularly in light of the dry weather. They committed to tackle leakage as a priority.
The 25 year environment plan sets out the Government’s ambitions for reducing demand on water resources. This includes support for Ofwat’s target for water companies to reduce leakage by 15% by 2025.
In their draft Business Plans water companies have proposed an average reduction of 16% by 2025. It is now for Ofwat to scrutinise these plans.