Water firms in England and Wales lost more than 1trn litres in leaks last year

Water companies in England and Wales wasted over one trillion litres of water through leaks last year despite growing concern over Britain’s water supply, new analysis shows.

According to figures from the company’s 2023/24 annual reports, analysed by the Observer, millions of litres of water was leaked each day.

Embattled Thames Water came out worst, leaking 570.4 megalitres every day, equating to more than 200bn litres in total. The figure means Thames leaked around a quarter of its entire water supply.

The utility giant, the UK’s biggest water company, is struggling under an £18.7bn debt crisis and has been battling against collapse for months. It was placed under special measures in July and is currently in talks with lenders to secure extra funding.

Thames Water has said it will need to hike bills 59 per cent by 2030 to make its turnaround possible.

The second worst performing firm was United Utilities, which leaked more than 175bn litres per year. Severn Trent came in third, discharging nearly 139bn.

The findings come amid mounting pressure on the Britain’s water supply. Demand has increased significantly amid population growth and climate change, with many areas of England already experiencing water shortages.

The Environment Agency has forecast the UK will need more than 5bn litres of water a day by 2050 but there have been no new major reservoirs built in the past 30 years.

A Thames Water spokesperson said the company had reduced leakage by seven per cent to its “lowest ever level” but acknowledged it had “more to do when it comes to driving down leakage”.

“We’re investing in new infrastructure and work is well underway to upgrade 112km of mains pipes upgrades within London,” the person added.

A spokesperson for Water UK, which represents the industry, claimed that the regulator Ofwat was stifling companies’ ability to invest.

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

According to the Observers’ analysis, Yorkshire Water leaked 94.9bn, followed by Welsh Water and Anglian Water at 90.9bn and 66.4bn, respectively.