Water suppliers in England and Wales lost more than a trillion litres through leaks last year

Despite growing concerns about Britain’s water supply, water companies in England and Wales wasted over a trillion litres of water through leaks last year, new analysis shows.

According to figures from the company’s 2023/24 annual reports analysed by the Observer, millions of litres of water were leaking every day.

The worst hit was the embattled Thames Water, which lost 570.4 megalitres of water a day, a total of more than 200 billion litres. That means around a quarter of the Thames’ entire water supply was lost.

The utility giant, Britain’s largest water company, is suffering from a £18.7 billion debt crisis and has been battling against collapse for months. The group was placed under special measures in July and is currently negotiating with lenders to obtain additional funding.

Thames Water has announced that water bills would need to be increased by 59 percent by 2030 to reverse the trend.

The second worst performing company was United Utilities, with annual emissions of more than 175 billion litres. Severn Trent came in third with almost 139 billion litres.

These findings come at a time of growing pressure on the UK’s water supply. Water demand has increased significantly due to population growth and climate change, and many areas of England are already experiencing water shortages.

According to a forecast by the Environment Agency, Britain will need more than five billion litres of water per day by 2050. However, no large water reservoirs have been built in the past 30 years.

A Thames Water spokesman said the company had reduced leakage by seven percent to its “lowest level ever”, but acknowledged that “more needs to be done to reduce leakage”.

“We are investing in new infrastructure and work is well underway to upgrade 112 kilometres of main lines in London,” the person added.

A spokesman for British water company Water UK, which represents the industry, claimed that regulator Ofwat was restricting companies’ ability to invest.

“Water companies want to invest £105 billion to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and stop sewage entering our rivers,” the spokesman said.

According to the Observer’s analysis, Yorkshire Water’s water loss was £94.9 billion, followed by Welsh Water and Anglian Water with £90.9 billion and £66.4 billion respectively.