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<p>The most recently available figures estimate that across England and Wales around
3.1 billion litres of water leaks each day. Ofwat, as the economic regulator, agrees
maximum leakage targets with water companies and has the powers to issue penalties
to companies that fail to meet these. In the last decade Ofwat has entered into legal
agreements with water companies that have missed their targets, committing them to
investing more than £230m in improvements on leakage.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government
and Ofwat have worked together to raise the issue of leakage and have worked with
the water companies to reduce total leakage by one third since its peak in the mid-90s.
Over the next five years, across England and Wales, companies are proposing further
work to reduce leakage further. Innovative changes in leak detection technology and
large scale programmes of customer engagement have allowed companies to improve their
understanding of the problems across their networks and how their customers expect
them to respond, allowing the companies to take a much more proactive approach to
leakage reduction. Companies are obliged to publish and explain their annual leakage
figures on their websites and outline what steps they intend to take to meet their
targets in future.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In its current price review Ofwat has made
it clear that it expects to see companies achieve a balance between keeping customers’
bills down and reducing leakage where it makes sense, such as in water stressed areas
where customers are willing to pay.</p>
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