Hosepipe ban: Yorkshire Water reveals how much water is being lost in leaks

The company revealed that 240m litres of water is being lost every day, although this has been reduced by 15 per cent over the past five years.

A third of that total is lost by customers, with Yorkshire Water trying to raise awareness of the impact of things like leaky loos.

Karen Atkinson, manager of leakage reduction at Yorkshire Water, said: “Reducing the number of leaks in our clean water network is really important to us, and to our customers, as we work towards a future with a secure water supply.

“While we have lots of proactive work to do to help us meet our targets and conserve water, customers can also play an important role in water conservation - reporting leaks that they spot in their areas is incredibly valuable to us.

“I’d encourage anyone who spots something that looks like a leak to reach out to us so that we can investigate and resolve it quickly.

“Customers can also save water in their homes and gardens with simple changes like taking a quick shower instead of a bath, using a watering can instead of a hose, and using a washing up bowl rather than loading the dishwasher.”

However Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said: “It is an absolute scandal that families are being told to limit their water use this summer, while these failing water firms are letting over a billion litres a day go to waste through leaky pipes.

“People are doing their bit – watering their gardens less, letting their lawns go brown – but they’re being let down by companies that refuse to get their own house in order.

“The government must step in now with tougher action. Firms that fail to fix leaks should be fined, and water company bosses should be stopped from pocketing eye-watering bonuses and pay rises while billions of litres of water is wasted and sewage is pumped in rivers, lakes and beaches.

“Enough is enough. The public shouldn’t be forced to pay the price for the water companies’ failure.”

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson added: “Leakage is the lowest it has ever been in Yorkshire, and it’s something that we work on all year round.

“We reduced leakage by 15 per cent over the last five years, and will be spending £38m over the next five years to continue bringing the number of leaks down.

“We’re also working on a £406m scheme to replace more than 1,000km of pipework to make burst and leaks less likely.

“As we’ve been in this period of dry weather, we have dedicated even more resource to reducing leaks as we look to protect our resources.”

Amid the ongoing hosepipe ban, the firm has recruited 100 extra leakage inspectors.

The company announced hosepipe restrictions from 11 July, after the driest and warmest spring on record leaving Yorkshire in drought.

At the time, the county’s reservoirs were sitting at 56 per cent capacity, when normally they would be 82 per cent full.

But despite recent rainfall, reservoir stocks have now declined to below 50 per cent, far lower than the 78 per cent average for this time of year.

Director of water Dave Kaye said Yorkshire Water would lift the restrictions “as soon as we are able”, but warned it may last until winter.

It comes just a few months after bills increased by almost a third, which the company says will go towards fixing the crumbling infrastructure.

More recently the Environment Agency revealed that Yorkshire Water has one of the worst records in the country when it comes to serious pollution incidents.

Yorkshire Water thanked its customers after a 52 per cent increase in customers reporting leaks since the announcement of the hosepipe ban.

Mr Kaye added: “We’d also like to thank customers who are reporting leaks to us.

“Taking the time to report leaks and not walking past them is vital. It helps us, particularly with smaller leaks, to investigate quickly and get the repair completed as soon as we can.

“Leaks with blue markings around them have been investigated and are awaiting repair, which we try to do as quickly as possible, prioritising the most severe or those impacting customer supplies.”