Water companies have recorded a surge in the amount of water they have lost through leaky pipes this summer, while millions of households were subject to hosepipe bans and the threat of water rationing.
Firms have blamed the weather for the increase in leaks, admitting their “fragile” pipes have struggled with the dry ground and surge in demand.
Erica Popplewell, head of public affairs at River Action, said water companies were “gaslighting the public” by blaming worsening leaks on the weather.
Almost a fifth of England’s water supply is currently lost to leaks and companies have strict targets to reduce their leakage by 50 per cent by 2050.
Overall leakage has been declining, but the majority of companies have failed to meet their targets and are now experiencing a surge in cracks and burst pipes.
Thames Water recently told the Environment Agency (EA) its leakage rate for one region it serves, encompassing Swindon and Oxfordshire, had increased to an average 82.16 million litres per day between March and August this year.
This is enough water to supply roughly 600,000 people and is the highest figure recorded in the region for this time period since at least 2019.
Thames Water told the regulator the increase in leakages was caused by “dry weather”, adding “the fragility of our assets means that the impact of weather conditions on our leakage levels is amplified”.
Dry weather causes soil to shrink and shift, putting pressure on underground pipes. This pressure is amplified during periods of high demand, such as heatwaves, when water companies must pump water through the network at higher volumes.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “”We are currently fixing more than 1,000 leaks every week and have increased frontline leakage resources. Overall leakage is more than 15 per cent lower than it was in 2019-20.”
South East Water has also reported an increase in leakages during the drought this summer.
In a report to the EA the firm said its leakage rate had increased “significantly” to 112.4 million litres per day, which is also blamed on “dry weather, ground movement, and a higher rate of water main bursts”.
Thousands of homes across Kent and Sussex have experienced disruptions to their water supply this summer as South East Water struggled to keep up with high demand during heatwaves.
Despite the surge in leaks over this summer, South East Water said it is still on track for a reduction in overall leakage this year.
A spokesperson said: “We have more teams than ever working hard to find and fix leaks. We spend around £60m a year on this important work.”
South West Water also said the hot and dry weather this summer was putting “additional stress on the network” as it reported 50 per cent more burst mains in July 2026 compared to July 2025.
The figures for all three companies were included in their applications to the EA for drought permits, which are a legal mechanism that can be activated when firms are concerned they could run out of water to supply homes in their region.
The permits typically allow for the suspension of environmental rules that determine how much water companies can take from rivers or boreholes to supply their local area.
They are the next step after hosepipe bans if these restrictions are not doing enough to reduce pressure on reservoirs.
Popplewell said households were being “told to use less water while companies admit their ageing infrastructure is failing”.
“Dry weather doesn’t explain away decades of underinvestment. It exposes them,” she said.
“Water companies lose almost two billion litres of treated drinking water every day through leakage. Yet this is an industry that, since privatisation in 1989, has failed to build a single reservoir.”
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