UK Water ​Companies ​Criticised as ​Amount Lost ​from Leaks ​Rises for ​Second Year

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UK Water ​Companies ​Criticised as ​Amount Lost ​from Leaks ​Rises for ​Second Year

Firms must lead by example if they want customers to conserve supplies, says consumer council.

By Kevin Rawlinson

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Representative image, Source: Pixabay

Water firms have been criticised by the industry watchdog after it found the amount of water lost to leakages had increased for the second consecutive year.

Nine of the private companies that supply water in England and Wales failed to meet their targets on cutting leakage in the year to April, according to the report by the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater). It found that leakages increased by 1.5% in 2017-18 on the previous year, to 3,170m litres per day.

“We know that consumers are more likely to use water wisely if they can see their water company is doing the same by tackling leaks,” said Karen Gibbs, the consumer group’s senior policy manager.

“Water companies must take action to reduce leakage and improve the resilience of their networks if they want to encourage consumers to commit to using water wisely themselves.

“Although companies do have plans to reduce leakage in 2020-25, their customers will expect to see this happening now.”

She said the greatest increases in leakage were the responsibility of Portsmouth Water, whose losses rose by 8.2%.

Read full article: The Guardian

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