The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is warning that the latest leakage figures cast serious doubts over whether some companies will be able to achieve the more demanding targets being set by the regulator Ofwat.
The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is warning that the latest leakage figures cast serious doubts over whether some companies will be able to achieve the more demanding targets being set by the regulator Ofwat.
The warning comes in the consumer group’s annual Water Water Everywhere? report which considers the resilience of both the water and sewerage services, by looking at the performance of companies in the last year.
The report says that the fact that some companies are still missing their leakage targets now casts serious doubts over whether they will be able to fulfill the more ambitious commitments for the next five-year reporting period, as part of the current price-setting process for 2020 to 2025.
Ofwat’s recent draft determinations included £2.3 billion to improve services to tackle population growth and climate change, with a further £450 million for companies collaborating on long-term strategic water resource solutions.
"Unclear to us whether this price review will deliver the step change in resilience that is needed"
The report says:
“Companies have been asked to develop action plans for implementing systems-based approaches to resilience. At the time of publication, it is unclear to us whether this price review will deliver the step change in resilience that is needed.”
The water watchdog is also calling for more urgency in tackling water supply disruption and says some water companies need to do much more to protect customers from disruption. The report shows that the amount of time people suffered disruption to their water supply has risen by a fifth since 2016/17.
The report raises questions over whether some companies are in a stronger position to deal with any repeat of the severe cold weather and rapid thaw, which left thousands of customers without water in March 2018.
It also shows that the industry lost 3.16 billion litres of water through leaky pipework in 2018/19 – a fall of 0.2 per cent. Three water companies – Thames Water, Affinity Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy - failed to meet their leakage targets and the watchdog is concerned the industry’s slow overall progress may dampen individuals’ own motivation to save water.
Bristol Water was the industry’s best performer, losing an average of 71 litres per property per day - compared to Thames Water, which reported the highest levels of leakage (177 litres per property per day).
Although many people are already making a conscious effort to be more water efficient, water consumption has been on the rise for the past four years with the average person using 143 litres a day in 2018/19, up from 141 litres in the previous 12 months.
CCWater says this will become increasingly important as population growth and climate intensify the pressure on water resources. The watchdog has repeatedly warned the industry that consumers are much less likely to play their part if they think their water company is not doing enough to tackle leakage.
Consumers were left without water for an average of 13 minutes and 14 seconds in 2018/19 - marking a significant fall on the previous year when the results were skewed by the huge disruption experienced during and after the ‘Beast from East’ and Storm Emma. However, the losses were still almost 22 per cent higher than two years ago, with eight companies falling short of their targets.
The latest leakage figures also raise doubts over whether some companies will be able to achieve the more demanding targets being set by the regulator Ofwat, as part of the current price-setting process for 2020 to 2025.
It is the third successive year that Thames Water missed its target, while Affinity Water came up short for the second year running. CCWater says these companies risk undermining their own efforts to encourage people to use water more wisely in the south east of England, where water resources are under the most pressure.
Much more encouraging progress has been made in the battle to eradicate sewer flooding, which can cause misery for households and businesses. Over the last five years the number of properties flooded with sewage has fallen by a quarter and that trend continued in 2018/19 – down from 3,560 to 3,252.
There was also a further fall in the number of external areas flooded with sewage, with incidents having declined by almost 40 per cent over the past five years.
Commenting on the findings, Karen Gibbs, Senior Policy Manager at the Consumer Council for Water, said:
“It’s clear that some companies still need to do much more when it comes to reducing supply interruptions and curbing leakage, which can damage people’s perceptions of the industry and deter them from saving water themselves.”
“Being left without water causes huge inconvenience to people and can be extremely isolating for the most vulnerable customers.”
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