This is how much water is lost through leaks

Almost two-fifths of the total water scheduled to be supplied to Irish homes and businesses was lost due to pipe leaks in 2022, according to a new report by a regulator.

The report published by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) found that around 626 million litres of water – equivalent to 7.8 million baht – are lost every day due to “public leakage”.

This represented approximately 37% 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 leakage 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, a further 12 million litres – the equivalent of 150,000 baths – were considered “unaccounted water”, while a further 17 million litres (212,500 baths) 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 stated that the high annual increase was likely due to the resumption of leak repair activities following the Covid19 pandemic.

It was also found that only 46% of all customers responded to a 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 is urging all customers to contact Uisce Éireann as soon as they are notified of a leak.

The CRU report showed that Uisce Éireann supplied water to more than 1.8 million customers in 2022, about 90% of which were households. Each household used an average of 126,000 litres per year – 345 litres (4.3 baths) per day.

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

In commercial buildings, the average water consumption was 1,772 litres per day. The report also found that the top 10% of households with water meters were responsible for 35% of total water consumption.

The top 1% – about 16,000 households – accounted for about 13% of total demand in 2022. According to the CRU, the average water consumption of these households was 14 times the demand of the average residential customer.