Almost 40% of all water is lost through leaks; Uisce Éireann is unlikely to meet its leakage reduction targets – Homepage

Seán McCarthay

Nearly 40 percent of all water scheduled to be delivered to households and commercial customers in 2022 was lost due to leaks, according to a new report from a state regulator.

The report, published by the Utilities Regulatory Commission, found that 626 million litres of water – equivalent to 7.8 million baht – were lost every day due to “public leaks”.

This represented approximately 37 percent of the total water supply provided by Uisce Éireann in 2022.

According to CRU, the figures suggested that Uisce Éireann was no longer on track to meet its target of reducing leakage on the public side by 161 million litres per day over a five-year period to the target date of the end of 2024.

The regulator said it was “worrying” that annual savings from leakages had fallen from 41 million litres per day in 2021 to 11 million litres per day in 2022.

The CRU report found that in addition to the 626 million litres lost daily through leakage, another 12 million litres – equivalent to 150,000 baht – are considered “unaccounted water”, while another 17 million litres (212,500 baht) were used for operational purposes.

It also showed that the First Fix Scheme saved 30 million litres of water per day in 2022 – compared to 14 million litres in the previous year.

However, the CRU said the high annual increase was likely due to the resumption of leak repair work following the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was found that only 46 percent of all customers responded to the notification to use the First Fix Scheme after potential leaks were identified in their buildings in 2022.

For the First Fix Scheme to be successful, the regulator urged all customers to contact Uisce Éireann as soon as they were notified of a leak.

The CRU report showed that Uisce Éireann supplied water services to over 1.8 million customers in 2022, about 90 percent of whom were households.

The average annual consumption per household is 126,000 liters, which corresponds to 345 liters (4.3 baths) per day.

Consumption exceeding the annual household limit of 213,000 litres set by the Minister for the Environment – ​​equivalent to 584 litres per day – may be subject to an additional consumption charge in the coming years.

The average consumption in non-residential buildings is 1,772 liters per day.

The report also found that the top 10% of households with water meters account for 35% of total water consumption.

The top 1 percent – ​​about 16,000 households – accounted for about 13 percent of total demand in 2022.

According to CRU, the average water consumption of such households is 14 times higher than the needs of average private customers.