HC Deb 21 March 1983 vol 39 c332W
Mr. Dalyell

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment which water authority areas lose more than 40 per cent. of their water through leaks.

Mr. Giles Shaw

None.

Mr. Tam Dalyell

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is taking any action as a result of the calculation by his technical working party that 18.6 litres of water are lost every hour for every property in the United Kingdom on mains water supply.

Mr. Giles Shaw

Field experiments carried out by the technical working group over a limited period found mean losses of 6.1 litres per property per hour in districts where a high level of leakage control was practised compared with 18.6 l/p/h when there was no active leakage control. Neither figure is representative of the United Kingdom as a whole.

The Government have endorsed the recommendations of the technical working group and are urging regional water authorities to implement them. In addition, we will shortly be discussing with the water authorities the setting of realistic targets for economically acceptable levels of leakage.