Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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Databank www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JULY 2018 | 29 GOAL 5 LEAKAGE Driving down leakage is of paramount importance for water companies. As well as being the subject of regulatory incentives and penalties in PR19, leakage is an important reputational issue with cus- tomers, results in lost revenue and is of particular signi• - cance to those companies in water-stressed areas. Ofwat has challenged companies to reduce leakage by 15 per cent by 2025, but the 3,123 million litres leaking daily in England and Wales during 2016/17 marks only a 7 per cent reduction on the level seen at the turn of the mil- lennium. Leakage levels have been broadly unchanged over the last • ve years and 2016/17 saw an increase of 1.2 per cent across England and Wales. Four companies – Cam- bridge Water, Essex & SuŽ olk Water, Portsmouth Water and Thames Water – missed their leakage targets for the 2016/17 period, while leakage levels also increased for Bristol Water (5 per cent) and Dee Valley (14.1 per cent). In June, Thames agreed to pay £65 mil- lion back to customers as part of a package of payments and penalties worth £120 million as the result of its disappoint- ing leakage performance. More encouragingly, some companies – including Af- • nity Water (-4.4%), United Utilities (-2.8%), Bournemouth Water (-2.6%) and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (-2.5%) – were able to reduce leakage during that time, and Yorkshire Water is leading on ambition for AMP7 with a target to cut leak- age by 40 per cent by 2025. LEAKAGE Thames Water leaks 179 litres per property served per day Industry average is leakage of 121 litres per property served per day Southern Water leaks 80 litres per property served per day 22% Leakage accounted for approximately 22 per cent of all water used for public supply in 2016/17 Source: Ofwat Dee Valley Water 14.1% Affi nity Water -4.4% Biggest increase in leakage in 2016/7: Largest reduction in leakage in 2016/7: Southern Water Thames Water leaks Water company leakage: litres per property served per day - 2016/7 - England and Wales Million litres of water leaked each day by English and Welsh water companies 2010-11 3,382 2012-13 3,094 2014-15 3,136 2011-12 3,093 2013-14 3,113 2016-17 3,123 2015-16 3,087 Source: CC Water Source: Discover Water Southern Essex & Suff olk SES Water Anglian Bristol South East Dee Valley Bournemouth Portsmouth Cambridge South West Northumbrian Wessex Affi nity South Staff s Average Severn Trent Dwr Cymru Yorkshire United Utilities Thames 80 83 84 86 87 88 89 93 96 102 102 111 112 116 119 121 122 123 129 133 179