Severn Trent's pledge as the winter weather sees big rise in burst pipes

Severn, which supplies water to customers in South Yorkshire and the Humber, said it had drafted in additional resources to bring leakages back under control "as rapidly as possible".

The company usually handles around 1,600 calls a day over burst pipes in January, but took double that amount this month.

Water companies have seen a huge increase in burst pipes within their own network as well as customers' supply pipes. They are caused by previously frozen water expanding as it melts. Movements in thawing ground can also disrupt the network.

The group – which maintains a 46,000km system of pipes – said it was too early to judge the impact on its annual leakage rates, which are monitored by regulator Ofwat.

The company serves a population of more than eight million people from the Bristol Channel to the Humber and from mid-Wales to the East

Midlands.

In its trading update for the October to January period, Severn said it had seen signs of stabilisation in bad debt levels, as well as the fall-off in water usage by recession-hit businesses. Year-on-year declines in business usage are now expected to cost up to 10m in revenues, instead of the 15m to 20m first feared.

Bad debts remained steady at around 2.3 per cent of turnover – the same level seen at the end of Severn's last financial year at the end of September – although the firm is closely monitoring future developments.

Last week Severn accepted regulator Ofwat's pricing and investment regime for 2010-2015, but warned it would have to cut its dividend next year as a result.

The company, said it would need to cut the dividend by around 10 per cent in order to meet the spending proposals.