§ Andrew BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water undertakings have achieved the leakage targets set by the Deputy Prime Minister in 1997. [72868]
§ Mr. MeacherFollowing the Water Summit in 1997, Ofwat has set each water company an annual leakage target to progressively reduce leakage to its economic level by 2003. This is defined as the level at which the costs to make further reductions in leakage are greater than the costs of supplying additional water from its sources. On 25 July, Ofwat published details of company performance against their targets for 2001–02. Of the twenty-one companies set targets, nineteen met them and are now at or on course to reach their Economic Level of Leakage by 2003. Ofwat considers that the two that did not will recover their positions by 2002–03. Thames Water was subject to special measures rather than being set a volumetric target in 2001–02, due to its unsatisfactory performance in managing leakage. The company's performance in this respect continues to be deficient. Ofwat is taking a number of increased measures to ensure that Thames Water brings its leakage under control by 2003–04, including the setting of local leakage targets for 2002–03.