Water UK

Leakage (briefing)

13/04/06

Sustainable water policy obviously requires that water lost through leaking pipes is kept to a minimum. It will never be possible to reduce losses to zero with more than 300,000 km of mains and millions of joints vulnerable to ground conditions and traffic pressure. But leakage needs to be brought down to its economic level, where the cost of water saved by reducing leakage is equal to the cost of new resources.

In the UK we have particular problems due to the age of many mains and their poor condition resulting from inadequate investment over generations. It is accepted by all industry stakeholders that in the past other elements of water management, such as improving drinking water and reducing pollution, have been higher priorities for investment than the maintenance, repair or replacement of leaking pipes.

Overall the industry in England and Wales has cut leakage by 30% since 1995 and European Environment Agency figures show that we do well by European standards. However any relaxation in meeting this complex challenge would be a mistake. Most companies are meeting economic levels of leakage; those that are not are working vigorously to achieve their targets and expect to do so during the 2005-10 management period.

New strategy

A change of strategy agreed between companies and Ofwat will be helpful in this area. Whereas in the past the industry tended to operate a ‘find and fix’ policy, we shall now see more wholesale mains replacement – a more effective and efficient method of cutting losses from the network. The benefit of this development will be seen in a reduction of 300 million litres per day by 2010 – enough water for the daily needs of 2 million people.

When considering leakage it is worth remembering that more than a quarter of the loss is from supply pipes leading from the mains to customers’ premises. Customers have responsibility for these pipes, though Ofwat notes that the industry arranges repair or replacement on more generous terms than those required by law.

Ends

For more information please contact:

Barrie Clarke, Director of Communication
020 7344 1804 or
Bruce Horton, Policy Adviser
020 7344 1817