Ministers have urged water companies to go “further and faster” to tackle leaks after The i Paper analysis found 2.6 billion litres is being lost every day – far more than hosepipe bans save.
It comes as more than half of England and the whole of Wales remains in official drought, following record-low rainfall and exceptionally high temperatures in July, the driest on record.
Nine water companies have so far implemented hosepipe bans in response, covering more than 23 million people, or roughly 40 per cent of England’s population, plus parts of Wales.
Research by the industry body UKWIR found that hosepipe bans reduced water use by around 2.7 to 4.1 per cent during the 2022 drought, which would amount to 377 million to 572 million litres a day if the restrictions were applied across the whole of England.
However, the most recent Environment Agency figures show water companies currently lose about 2.6 billion litres of water a day through leaks before it reaches customers’ taps, almost a fifth (19 per cent) of all water put into the network. This is the equivalent of 1,000 Olympic swimming pools.
The i Paper’s analysis found that water companies could therefore be losing between five and seven times more water through leakage than hosepipe bans are likely to save.
When presented with the findings, the Government urged water firms to go “further and faster to reduce leaks”. Campaigners say the figures highlight the scale of leakage from England’s ageing water infrastructure and raise questions over decades of underinvestment.
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to take greater “public control” of Britain’s utilities, and has urged water firms to prioritise improving services over shareholder payouts.
Water firms losing hundreds of millions of litres to leaks
The nine water firms that have announced hosepipe bans are predominantly across southern England and some claim their current measures will preserve more water than the UKWIR data suggests. However, even more ambitious water savings from hosepipe bans are outpaced by the scale of leaks.
Record low levels of rainfall in parts of England have left water levels running perilously low (Photo: Getty Images)Thames Water, which supplies drinking water to around 10.2 million customers, loses an estimated 569 million litres a day through leaks – between 5.5 and 8.3 times more than our analysis suggests its hosepipe ban is likely to save.
Anglian Water, which covers much of the East of England, declared its first hosepipe ban since 2012 last month, affecting over five million customers. It lost around 187 million litres of water a day to leaks in 2024-25 – which The i Paper estimates would be four to six times what its ban would save.
Anglian has disputed the figures, saying it is “one of the industry’s frontier performers on leakage” and that its ban had cut demand by 9 per cent initially, stabilising at around 5 per cent. Even applying the 9 per cent figure, however, Anglian’s leakage is still almost double what the ban would save.
South East Water loses an estimated 104.8 million litres a day to leaks – 4.7 to 7.1 times more than its ban is estimated to save. Robert Anthony-Scorse, the firm’s head of leakage, said it spends around £63m a year finding and fixing leaks and employs 400 staff on repairs.
“We share our customers’ frustrations at seeing drinking water lost to leaks but please be assured that we are working flat out to reduce leakage across our network,” he said.
Essex and Suffolk Water, whose hosepipe ban came into force on Monday, loses an estimated 54.7 million litres a day. Its leakage rate is the lowest of any water company in England, but its losses are still an estimated 2.9 to 4.4 times higher than what the ban is likely to save.
A spokesperson said the company was “industry-leading in terms of our leakage performance” and also disputed The i Paper’s figures, citing Anglian Water’s 9 per cent estimate. However, with that rate applied, its leakage is still higher than the amount of water a hosepipe ban would save.
Families face higher bills to fix leaks
Households are already paying higher water bills to fix the infrastructure blamed for many of these losses. Bills across England and Wales rose by an average of 5.4 per cent, or £33 a year, in April, as part of a £104bn investment programme to, in part, fund leak repairs and replace ageing pipes.
James Wallace, chief executive of campaign group River Action, said: “The UK isn’t running out of rainwater. It’s running out of political excuses. Rain falls, and is then polluted and wasted.
“Hosepipe bans are not a strategic water efficiency strategy. The public cannot be expected to carry the burden of decades of political complacency, corporate corruption and underinvestment.”
Zöe Franklin, the Liberal Democrats’ local government and communities spokesperson, said the findings exposed a “double standard”.
“Households [face] severe fines of up to £1,000 for using a hosepipe, while negligent water companies are allowed to lose hundreds of millions of litres of water every single day through their own crumbling infrastructure,” she said.
Jo Morley, head of campaigns at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Water companies leak millions of litres of water every day… and yet bonuses and shareholder payouts continue.”
She called on the Government to “remove the profit motive and bring failing water companies into public control, starting with Thames Water.”
Scale of the water crisis
The findings come against a backdrop of a deepening water crisis. Reservoir storage across England fell to 72 per cent for the week ending 28 July, 9.5 per cent below average for the time of year, the Environment Agency’s most recent weekly report found.
The agency has also warned England could face a shortfall of up to five billion litres of water a day by 2055.
Helen Wakeham, the agency’s director of water, said last week that the “hot and dry weather means we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “Water companies need to go further and faster to reduce leaks and follow their drought plans to ensure supplies are not disrupted in even the driest of weather.”
Ministers said they were investing in nine new reservoirs by 2050, expected to provide an extra 700 million litres of water a day.
Ofwat has set water firms a target to cut leaks by half compared to 2017 levels by 2050. The sector has already cut leakage by 43 per cent since privatisation was introduced in 1989.
Thames Water was contacted for comment.
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