Water firms in England and Wales leaked 1 trillion litres in 2021, new figures show

Water companies in England and Wales leaked more than 1 trillion litres of water last year, according to provisional figures from the regulator.

Around 2,923 million litres per day were lost in 2021, with 2,752 million litres leaked in England and 171.3 million litres leaked in Wales, according to an Ofwat analysis of companies’ 2021/2022 annual reports. That’s the equivalent of 1.06 trillion litres for the year.

The analysis comes as water companies face intense scrutiny due to a drought in parts of England and Wales and reports of sewage being pumped into the sea at a time when many families are on holiday.

New figures have revealed that raw sewage has been discharged into the environment well over a million times in the past five years, as pay packets for water company bosses rose by a fifth between the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 financial years.

The Independent reported last week that water companies had failed to meet their targets for cutting household leaks and domestic use.

The new leak figures are taken from the water companies’ annual reports and analysed by Ofwat. They will be confirmed by the regulator in its annual service and delivery report published in November.

Despite the high figure, the leaks are lower than last year’s total for England and Wales, and Ofwat has said provisional figures showed that three-quarters of companies were meeting their leakage targets.

An Ofwat spokesperson said: “Ofwat’s own analysis uses the most up-to-date figures available and shows that leakage is at its lowest level since privatisation.

“Companies’ performance on leakage has been improving in recent years but it is still not good enough and we will keep pushing them on this issue. Where they fail, we will act to hold them to account.”

A Water UK spokesperson said: “Water companies are committed to radically reducing leakage, building on recent announcements of the lowest ever on record with further steep reductions planned each year.”