Leaks fall for first time in five years but watchdog wants further improvements

As leakage from supply pipes in England and Wales fell for the first time in five years, the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) has called for further improvement.

In its quarterly Delving into Water report CC Water shows leakage fell by over 1%. And most water companies continuing to deliver better water and sewerage services for their customers and high levels of consumer satisfaction. But the consumer watchdog called on some water companies to up their game and help reduce the 121 litres of water wasted every day on average by each household.

Chief executive officer of CCWater, Tony Smith, csaid: “Leakage remains an important issue for consumers and it can dampen their own motivation to save water if they think their water company is not pulling its weight. Some water companies need to show more ambition in beating – not just meeting – their leakage targets.”

Other findings in the report included:

· high consumer satisfaction with many aspects of their water and sewerage services.

· most companies are performing well in many key areas, including increasing assistance for customers struggling to pay, metering, drinking water quality and tackling sewer flooding;

· as written customer complaints fell for an eighth successive yea, ten firms bucked reported a rise – some very substantial;

· just over half of water companies in England and Wales made an improvement in the time consumers were without a water supply due to a burst supply pipe or maintenance work.