Welsh water companies slammed as stats reveal 251 million litres of water wasted every day due to leaky pipes

Emily Price 

Wales’ two main water companies have been slammed after new figures revealed that millions of litres of water are wasted every day due to leaky pipes

House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats found that an average of 3 billion litres of water was wasted daily in England and Wales between 2020/21 – 2022/23.

This is the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

The Lib Dems say that approximately 251 million litres are lost every day because of leakages caused by Dŵr Cymru.

Leakages

The data revealed that on average, a total of 171 litres is leaked per property served by Dŵr Cymru each day – the highest in England and Wales.

It comes in spite of Dŵr Cymru’s ‘non-profit’ model, something which the Welsh Lib Dems have repeatedly criticised in the face of large executive bonuses and the company’s environmental record – with some of the highest levels of sewage dumping in the entire UK.

The company also charges the most expensive water bills in the UK, despite incomes in Wales being amongst the lowest in the country.

Dŵr Cymru says its performance on leakage when measured per property “isn’t a true reflection of the overall situation” due to the sparse population it serves in rural areas and the length of the company’s pipe network.

A spokesperson said: “Dŵr Cymru is close to the industry average when measured on leakage per kilometre of pipe and this remains a more relevant comparison.

“However, leakage performance is not where we want it to be and we have invested an additional £54m over the past two years above what was planned to identify and reduce leakage as quickly as possible to improve our performance further.

“This has meant that we have made significant improvements in performance, and we expect this to be evident in our figures for 2024/25 that will be released in a few weeks’ time.

“Our aim is to continue this improvement over the next five years where we will reduce leakage by a further 25% with considerable investment planned in pipe replacement and leakage repairs.”

Record

Meanwhile, Hafren Dyfrdwy, which serves Montgomeryshire, Wrexham and parts of Radnorshire, had the second highest amount of leaks per property served with 154 litres leaked per property with 16.4 million litres lost every year.

The Lib Dems have calculated that these water leaks are costing customers in England and Wales approximately £396 million per year in total.

Hafren Dyfrdwy water bills are expected to increase significantly in 2025 with the average bill for the year expected to be £590 – a 32% increase compared to the 2024/25 bill of £447.

A Hafren Dyfrdwy spokesperson said: “We have made progress when it comes to leakage and we’re totally committed to doing more.

“We’ve seen some encouraging progress over the last year and over the next five years we will be investing significantly, including £10million to boost the resilience of water mains in Wrexham.”

The Lib Dems are calling for the UK Government to abolish Ofwat in favour of a new regulator with  power to hold water companies accountable, protecting customers and the environment.

The party has also called on ministers to implement a single social water tariff to protect the most vulnerable customers from excessive bill increases, and for bonuses to water bosses to be banned.

‘Unfair’

They have also called on the Welsh Government to better regulate Dŵr Cymru when it comes to its environmental record.

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick said: “It’s scandalous that Dŵr Cymru are allowing millions of litres of water to be wasted every year, all while customers pay the price with unfairly high bills.

“The government cannot just sit idly by whilst water companies exploit the system. It’s time for Ofwat to go and be replaced with a regulator that can hold these polluting companies accountable.

“The Liberal Democrats will continue to stand with customers who have been taken for granted by water companies for far too long.”