Water company chief executives will be required to explain to the environment secretary how they plan to improve leakage performance.
Michael Gove will demand answers about why leakage targets have not been met at a gathering with CEOs at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) tomorrow (31 July).
Recent statistics released for all water companies in England and Wales showed the total average water leakage was 3,183 million litres a day for April 2017 to March 2018. It increased by 2 per cent from 3,123 million in the previous year.
The meeting will be attended by South Staffordshire (also representing its subsidiary Cambridge Water), Bristol, Severn Trent, Thames, Yorkshire, Essex and Suffolk (via its parent company Northumbrian), Portsmouth and United Utilities.
Out of 18 English companies, eight missed their targets in 2017-18 and three companies just met their targets.
Gove said: “Customers expect a reliable and resilient water supply and these results further demonstrate that water companies have much more to do to tackle leakage.”
“I have repeatedly made clear that companies must improve and recently wrote to them to outline my expectations during this period of dry weather,” he added.
He will ask the chief executives how they are going to “address this serious issue and improve their performance.”
The average loss of supply (minutes lost due to interruptions) also increased from 10 minutes in 2016-17 to 22 minutes in 2017-18.
Thames Water has already received a £55 million leakage performance penalty, in addition to agreeing a £65 million fine for poor leakage performance.
Ofwat has urged the water sector to deliver a “game change” on leakage. It has challenged the water sector to reduce leakage by 15 per cent by 2025 and said it will take tough action against companies which do not meet their leakage commitments.
A spokesperson for Essex and Suffolk Water, told Utility Week: “Essex and Suffolk Water has the second lowest leakage rate in the country, and reduced this by a further 2.8 per cent last year. Our leakage levels per property are already a third less than the industry average and even though we only just missed our yearly target, tackling leakage and saving water is a real priority for us.
“We’re doing all we can to help drive these numbers down even further and also help the rest of the industry to do the same. We look forward to what should be a positive discussion on the issue.”
Severn Trent’s spokesperson added: “Over the last decade we’ve reduced leakage by 20 per cent which is roughly the same as the amount of water needed to supply the populations of Coventry, Nottingham and Derby.
“We’re absolutely committed to doing more and have invested in drone and satellite technology to help us spot leaks, and have announced multi-million pound plans to install new monitors and pressure devices in our pipes to help prevent bursts before they occur as we look to reduce leakage by a further 15 per cent in the five years to 2025.
“We can assure all of our customers we’re absolutely committed to reducing the amount we leak and are constantly looking at ways to improve our performance.”