Latest news with #leakage
BBC News
7 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Residents 'rightly frustrated' over Thames Water hosepipe ban
The leader of a council affected by a hosepipe ban has said "people are tired of the same old excuses" from the water company. Thames Water introduced the hosepipe ban for customers in north Wiltshire, east Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire on Tuesday. Jim Robbins, who leads Swindon Borough Council, said he was "really disappointed" by the ban, adding that the company had prioritised pay-outs to shareholders over "making sure the water supply for customers is there where it needs to be".Thames Water said the restriction was due to a lack of rain and increasing demand and added leakage in the network was at its "lowest ever level". While the company did not respond directly to Mr Robbins' comments, it added that it was using "innovative technology" to fix leaks faster, with 650 leaks fixed each however now face a fine of up to £1,000 if they are found to use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool. Thames Water has been fined millions of pounds and heavily criticised for a series of leaks and Robbins, who has been highly critical of the company in the past, said: "I think residents are rightly frustrated that this is an organisation that hasn't made the investment that it needs to over the past 20 years or so since it's been privatised. "People are tired of the same old excuses... after years of failure and them not doing the hard work to make sure they maintain people's supply and keep our rivers clean."It's consistently prioritised taking money out of the business... but there is no evidence they have done the work of making sure that the water supply for customers is there where it needs to be." 'Doing everything we can' The hosepipe ban was announced last week and came into force at midnight on Tuesday - covering some 1.1 million people. The temporary restrictions cover areas with postcodes beginning with OX, GL, SN, RG4, RG8 and RG9.A number of other water companies around the country have announced similar hosepipe bans, though none of those are in the West or South West. Announcing the restrictions, Nevil Muncaster, Thames Water's strategic water resources director said: "I'd like to reassure all our customers that we are doing everything we can to look after our water resources and to protect the environment through this continued warm, dry weather."Our engineers are working 24/7 to maintain supply to all our customers and we have more teams out in the field fixing leaks, which often increase during long dry spells because of shifts in the ground that move our pipes. "We all have a role to play in reducing our water use and customers can help us by saving water around the home and in the garden."
BBC News
11-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Yorkshire hosepipe ban prompts frustration as leaks continue
Millions of people across Yorkshire are facing restrictions on water use as the UK's first regional hosepipe ban of 2025 comes into force. Despite Yorkshire Water saying it has cut leakage by 15% in recent years, bill payers say they are frustrated at the number of leaks which appear to go unchecked. "It's literally going out of that hole and straight into a drain," said Neela business owner said water has been pouring along Greasbrough Road, in Rotherham, for two weeks."They've put a few cones up but I've not seen much work done so we're not sure what's going on."We just want it resolved, they've put a hosepipe ban on and it's just flowing out of there."Fellow shop owner John Smallwood said everyone in the area had reported it, calling it "ridiculous" to impose restrictions on customers while water was being wasted in this way."They came and stopped the traffic, caused a lot of havoc and not been back," he said."It's just a tonne of water going down the drain."The hosepipe ban applies to customers across much of Yorkshire, parts of North Lincolnshire and parts of prohibits the use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool. Anyone flouting the restriction could be fined up to £1,000. Dean Majors, a massage therapist from Skipton, North Yorkshire, said he had reported a leak outside his home on Canal Street at the end of said water had been pooling outside his house, with some passing down a drain and through an overflow pipe into the nearby canal. "It just got worse and worse and every time any traffic came through, water just splashed down the overflow."Mr Majors also reported a leak outside his business, The Backcave, last May, with the residual water so deep that he floated rubber ducks on it. He said the leak outside his home was fixed on Thursday, joking that the company had remembered his duck stunt. Carol Lilleker, from Laughton-en-le-Morthen, near Dinnington in South Yorkshire, said water has been leaking from beneath a manhole cover in the village since 27 said despite several calls to Yorkshire Water it has not been repaired and "thousands of gallons of water" must have been lost. "We reported it. Our neighbours across the road reported it. The school's reported it. Several other people have reported it," she said. "We're going to have a hosepipe ban on Friday, which is understandable - we can understand the reasons why that's going to happen - but it's a bit much when thousands and thousands of gallons of water are flowing past our houses and nobody seems to be doing anything." In West Yorkshire, Kevin Baker said he had noticed a significant leak on Green Hill Road, in Armley, Leeds, six weeks ago."They came along, put traffic lights on, dug a hole, scratched their heads and went away and it's been pouring out ever since."He said having passed it on Thursday he noticed a digger was there and hoped that meant it was finally being dealt had a leak at his homes that Yorkshire Water charged him for, he said it was incredibly frustrating."It just felt like no action was taken on top of the frustration that they can charge me an exorbitant amount of money for what was a very small leak on my system." Yorkshire Water said it understood how "frustrating leaks are" for its customers."Leakage is the lowest it has ever been in Yorkshire, and it's something that we work on all year round," a spokesperson said."We reduced leakage by 15% over the last five years, and will be spending £38m over the next five years to continue bringing the number of leaks down."It said it had dedicated more resources to reducing leaks and had recruited 100 extra leakage inspectors to "help us find and fix leaks faster".It said its team fix on average 334 leaks every week and prioritise those losing the most water. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
South West Water using drones and satellites to cut leaks
Drones and other "digital detection" technology are being used by a water company to cut leaks on its network, bosses say. South West Water (SWW) has faced criticism over its leakage rates, including in a letter sent by the government and industry regulators in October 2024. The company said it had "invested heavily" and that the amount of lost water to leakage fell in the year 2024/25 compared to the previous year. The Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which represents water customers, said "SWW has a long way to go to prove to people it has leaks on its network under control". Karl Little, leakage delivery manager for the utility, said: "We understand people's frustrations. "We have reduced leakage by 10 million litres a day. We've repaired more than 16,000 leaks in the last year. "We've now got more than 120 field technicians carrying out checks, plus office staff analysing data. "We've invested heavily in digital detection, with teams taking sound samples to find leaks".Mr Little also said drones and satellites were being used to help find leaks faster. The latest average annual leakage data from the SWW showed 107 million litres of water a day (Ml/d) were lost due to leakage in 2024/25, down from 118 Ml/d the year before. However, that was up on 2022/23, where 112 ML/d were lost. "We know that leakage – particularly visible leaks – really gets under the skin of customers, especially when they are being asked to save water at home", said Cath Jones, from the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which represents the views of water customers across the country."South West Water has work to do to become a leading performer on leakage and has a long way to go to prove to people it has leaks on its network under control" she added. Performance 'closely monitored' In a letter sent to SWW by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Ofwat and the Environment Agency in October 24, SWW was warned to "improve its performance on leakage as a priority" after average annual leakage rose in 2023/23 by 6.19 Ml/d. The latest figures from the company show that leakage rates have since improved, although those statistics are yet to be ratified by the industry regulator. "We fully support the efforts of all water companies to tackle leakage and have challenged South West Water to reduce loss by 31% in the 10 years to 2030", said regulator Ofwat. "Performance is closely monitored, we hold regular review meetings with the company, and do not hesitate to take robust action when we find any supplier has not met its commitments."Between 2020 and 2024, more than £3.2m was handed back to South West customers due to underperformance on leakage."Over the next five years, we have provided South West Water with an allowance of £17.9m for work on leakage reduction". South West Water provides water and sewerage services to about 1.8 million customers in Devon and Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, plus small parts of Dorset and Somerset.
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Yorkshire Water outlines plans to reduce leakage
Yorkshire Water has outlined plans for reducing supply leaks following the recent declaration of a drought in the it continued to call on customers to reduce their usage, the firm said it was investing £16m this year to help cut the number of leaks and had recruited 100 leakage October, the Environment Agency (EA) reported that 21% of Yorkshire Water's supplies were lost due to leakage, higher than the national average of 19%.Dave Kaye, from Yorkshire Water, said: "We are carefully managing supplies, as well as finding and fixing leaks quickly, prioritising those losing the most water first." Mr Kaye, the company's director of water, also said Yorkshire Water was making a "significant investment to tackle leakage across the county"."We've already delivered a 15% reduction in leakage over the last five years, and we'll be investing a further £16m this year to further drive down leakage as part of a £38m package over the next five years," he explained."We've also recruited 100 more leakage inspectors who are on the clock 24/7 to find and fix leaks and bursts." The EA has previously called on water companies to halve the amount of water leaking from their pipes by faced a 5bn-litre public water shortage by 2055 "without urgent action", the EA 2023-24, Yorkshire Water lost 47.9ml of water per day per person through leakage, higher than the national average of 45.8ml per day per Kaye said the firm had begun plans to replace more than 620 miles (1,000km) of water mains in areas of York, Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and North Yorkshire which were particularly prone to supply disruptions and the EA declared a drought in Yorkshire on 12 June following weeks of dry weather which had led to low reservoir levels, the firm called on customers to save Water said reservoir stocks had dropped 0.51% over the last week to 62.3%.The firm thanked customers for their efforts to use water wisely and asked them to continue protecting Kaye said: "Saving water is a community effort and customers can help out by making small changes to how they use water."He said those changes could include "using watering cans instead of hosepipes to water flowers and plants, letting lawns go brown as they'll bounce back following any rain, and using the eco setting on washing machines and dishwashers".All of those methods would "help protect resources further into the summer", Mr Kaye said. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Water firm tells customers to let lawns go brown in hosepipe ban warning
Residents in the south of England have been asked to let their lawns go brown and take shorter showers as water supplies dwindle and the UK prepares for a June heatwave. Southern Water, which supplies water to about 2.6 million customers, has issued tips on how to save water to Hampshire and Isle of Wight residents amid a prolonged dry spell, after the UK experienced its driest spring on record. The company's director for water, Tim McMahon, said its supplies were coming under increasing pressure and water supplies in the Test and Itchen rivers were falling. He said: 'To protect these precious chalk streams and their delicate ecosystems, we are restricted on how much water we take from them. That's why it is vital we reduce demand across the country so we can keep taps flowing, and this may involve introducing some restrictions on use if necessary. 'But small changes can also make a big difference, such as taking shorter showers or turning off the tap when you brush your teeth. We have written to our customers to ask for their help, and to offer more tips and information. We will continue to provide updates on our water resources as we move through the summer. He said the firm's leakage teams were continuing to find and fix leaks after a record year which saw leakage fall from 108.1 to 91.1 million litres per day, with nearly 21,000 leaks fixed in the past 12 months. Water saving tips from the company included swapping out a hosepipe for a watering can, reusing water from paddling pools if you use them in the hot weather, letting your lawn go brown, and cutting your shower time down to four minutes. While the organisation has yet to issue a hosepipe ban, Southern Water has previously declared that the south east of England is 'water stressed', which means the demand for water is increasing while the impacts of climate change mean there's less to go around. The company predicted that by 2030, it'll need to find an extra 50 million litres of water a day to meet the growing demand. Its latest warning comes as heat health alerts have been issued across England as temperatures are set to soar as high as 32C this week. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued seven yellow heat health alerts, which come into force at 12pm on Wednesday and will last until 6pm on Sunday. The alert covers Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East England, South East, South West and London. The health body's alert suggests that health and social care services may be significantly impacted by high temperatures, with a rise in deaths possible among those aged 65 and above and people with health conditions. Younger age groups may also be impacted, as the service predicted a 'likely increase in demand for health services '. Internal temperatures in care settings may increase, exceeding the recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment, and the heat may impact workforces. Earlier this year, the UK marked the sunniest spring on record. As the Met Office clocked 653.3 hours of sunshine - 43 per cent above average - it became the fourth sunniest season overall for the country, with only three summers sunnier since 1910.
