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<p>Defra recently published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring
a clean and plentiful water supply. Water companies have a statutory duty to provide
clean and reliable water to customers. To fulfil this duty there are statutory requirements
to consult, publish and maintain water resources management plans, to balance water
supply and demand at least twenty-five years into the future, and to develop drought
plans setting out the actions taken to maintain secure supplies during drought events.</p><p>
</p><p>Water companies have been consulting on their draft water resources management
plans and consulted on their drought plans in 2021. These plans are available on water
company websites.</p><p> </p><p>The Government expects water companies to take action
to reduce levels of leakage and has consistently challenged them on their performance.
Water companies have committed to a government endorsed target to reduce leakage by
50% sector-wide by 2050. As a first step, Ofwat has set requirements for water companies
to cut leaks by 16% and reduce mains bursts by 12% by 2025. In July, Ofwat reported
that industry wide leakage has reduced by 11% since 2017-18. In addition, water companies
will need to contribute to delivery of Defra’s Water Demand Target under the Environment
Act 2021 to reduce the use of public water supply per person in England by 20% by
2038. This includes a 37% reduction in leakage by 2038 on the pathway to meet their
50% reduction in leakage commitment by 2050.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency
collects leakage data reported by water companies annually. It is provided by water
company area. This means we cannot break down these data into specific regions such
as the East and West Midlands. We have collated the data provided by the companies
into regions based on their locations and information provided by regional water resources
groups for the year 2021 – 2022.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Region</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Megalitres
per day (MLd)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>554.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North
East</p></td><td><p>135.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North West</p></td><td><p>413.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Yorkshire</p></td><td><p>283.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East
Midlands</p></td><td rowspan="2"><p>509.3 covers the whole midlands area i.e. East
and West</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>549.1
(excl London)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East of England</p></td><td><p>248.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South
West</p></td><td><p>190.3</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
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