261 litres lost every day per household

9:00am Wednesday 14th June 2006

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THAMES Water was condemned this week for losing a staggering 33 per cent of its water in leaks despite new technology to easily find and fix pipes.

The amount of water the Oxfordshire supplier lost every day from ageing pipes equivalent to 261 litres per household was described as 'unacceptably high' by a House of Lords committee.

The company told the Gazette that its leakage rate was so high largely because of the crumbling mains system in the London area. In Oxfordshire, it was meeting its targets.

Across the country, 23 per cent of the total supply is lost every day.

The all-party committee demanded that suppliers make better use of new technology to accurately detect and repair leaky pipes. Without such action, householders told to reduce the amount of water they use would simply shrug their shoulders and say 'What is the point?', the peers warned.

The report said: "Given that the development of technologies for leakage detection and repair continues unabated, we believe that leakage levels should be reduced further."

It added: "It would also help to increase consumers' trust in the water companies and reduce their resentment at being told to save water when so many utilities are still losing such a large amount through leakages."