Conclusion 9

The NAO reported that Ofwat now expects leakage to fall by 16% between 2020 and 2025, which would result in 561 million litres of water a day being saved.14 We asked the Department to tell us which were the best and worst performing companies. Thames Water was by far the worst, losing 22,000 litres per km of pipe each day between 2017–18 7 C&AG’s Report, para 11 8 Q 25 9 Q 26 10 Q 30 11 C&AG’s Report, para 5 and figure 6 12 Q 70 13 Q 23 14 C&AG’s Report, para 3.8 10 Water supply and demand management and 2019–20. This is more than double the rate of the next worst performers: Affinity Water (10,700 litres) and United Utilities (10,600 litres). The best performer was Anglian Water (4,700 litres).15 Daily volume of water lost through leakage 2017–18–2019–2016 Company Litres lost per km of pipe Thames 22,200 Affinity 10,700 United Utilities 10,600 South Staffs (including Cambridge Water) 10,000 Portsmouth 9,600 Yorkshire 9,100 Severn Trent 8,800 Northumbrian (including Essex and Suffolk Water) 7,500 Southern 7,400 SES Water 6,900 South West (including Bournemouth Water) 6,500 Wessex 6,500 Bristol 6,000 South East 5,900 Anglian 4,700