Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1157210
Databank Water companies were able to report a minor success in the lat- est round of leakage results, with the overall volume of water lost to leakage down by more than 10 million litres per day in 2018-19. While Southern Water and Bournemouth Water did not have speci• c targets for 2018-19, Water UK said 15 of the other 18 companies had met or beaten their targets, compared to only seven of 18 a year earlier. Nonetheless, the 0.4 per cent reduction to 3,170 million litres lost per day across England and Wales did not represent the kind of step change that is expected in AMP7. Ofwat had initially announced that it was challenging companies to reduce leakage by 15 per cent by 2025, but that • gure rose to an average of 17 per cent with the latest round of draŠ determinations. While most will still be targeting 15 per cent, some will be aiming for more substantial reductions: Thames Water and Yorkshire Water will aim for 25 per cent; South Sta' s Water for 23 per cent; United Utilities, A" nity Water and Portsmouth Water for 20 per cent; and Anglian Water for 17 per cent. The Consumer Council for Water criticised Thames Water, A" nity Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy for failing to meet their targets in the latest results, with new chair Robert Light saying: "It casts serious doubts over whether repeat o' enders like Thames Water and A" nity Wa- ter will be able to achieve the more challenging future targets that the regulator Ofwat has set the whole industry and that customers want to see." Water UK, though, empha- sised that the 2018-19 • gures represent a step in the right di- rection as the industry prepares not just for AMP7 but to triple the rate of sector-wide leakage reduction by 2030 as part of the Public Interest Commitment. "There has been substantial recovery from the leakage posi- tion last summer when we saw an unusually high level of pipe bursts," Water UK chief executive Michael Roberts said. "Water companies spent millions of pounds extra in the last year identifying more leaks and • xing them more quickly, but although the overall picture on leakage has improved com- pared with last year, we are still determined to do better as an industry, and it remains one of our highest priorities. Leakage is down by a third since the mid-'90s, but we intend to go even further, which is why we're now putting in place the most ambitious leakage programme for 20 years." LEAKAGE Thames Water leaks 178 litres per property served per day The industry average is leakage of 121 litres per property served per day Bristol Water leaks 77 litres per property served per day Bristol Water leaks The industry Thames Water leaks Million litres of water leaked per day (2018/19) Million litres of water leaked each day by water companies across England and Wales *Some companies don't have targets for every year – they have targets they have to meet by 2020 that aren't shown. As the areas supplied by Severn Trent and Hafren Dyfrdwy changed during 2018/19 both companies now report leakage in a diff erent format in specifi c parts of their regions. This means that there isn't a single target for either company for the whole of the year. However, Water UK reported Severn Trent among those to have met or beaten their targets in 2018/19 while Hafren Dyfrydwy was not on the list Source: Water UK Source: CC Water and Water UK ACTUAL TARGET Affi nity Water 196 168 Anglian Water 186 192 Bournemouth Water 18.3 N/A* Bristol Water 41.7 44 Cambridge Water 13.2 13.5 Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 170 171 Essex & Suff olk Water 64.2 66 Hafren Dyfrydwy 15.3 N/A* Northumbrian Water 136 137 Portsmouth Water 28.1 29.9 SES Water 24.1 24.1 Severn Trent 424 N/A* South East Water 86.9 89.1 South Staff s Water 70.5 70.5 South West Water 84 84 Southern Water 102 N/A* Thames Water 690 612 United Utilities 456 463 Wessex Water 66.4 67.2 Yorkshire Water 290 292 Source: Water UK LEAKS AND BURSTS 17% The average target for leakage reduction by the end of the 2020-25 period across all companies in England and Wales 0.4% The leakage reduction achieved in the last year, with total litres lost to leakage per day falling from 3,183 million in 2017-18 to 3,170 million in 2018-19 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 3,382 3,093 3,094 3,113 3,136 3,087 3,123 3,183 3,170 www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | SEPTEMBER 2019 | 27