South West Water’s failure to fix leaks ‘putting customer supplies at risk’
Summary
UK regulators and the government warned South West Water that its failure to meet leakage-reduction and burst-pipe repair targets is increasing the risk of supply interruptions during severe drought. The company loses 113.5 million litres of water a day, while drought conditions affect parts of its service area and reservoir levels are critically low.Key Facts
- Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said South West Water had missed leakage and pipe-repair targets for seven years.
- The regulators said leakage was 18.5% above forecast and had increased since the previous year.
- South West Water loses 113.5 million litres of water daily, 5.7 million litres more per day than a year earlier.
- About 82% of England remained in drought, with severe drought declared in parts of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset and Sussex.
- Drought conditions affect about 325,000 people and thousands of businesses in Exeter and mid and east Devon, where supply cuts may occur in coming weeks and months.
- Storage at Wimbleball reservoir, which supplies customers in parts of Devon, Somerset and Dorset, was at 16%.
- South West Water urged households in affected areas to reduce water use; the regulators said this was important while the company was asking customers to conserve water.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
