Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Water losses from Thames Water infrastructure equate to running a hosepipe for 73 years

Thames Water hosepipe leaking.

You could have had a hosepipe on constantly since before the Queen was on the throne and you still wouldn’t have used as much as Thames Water wastes in 24 hours, according to the GMB Union.

The cost of drought to London’s economy could be £330 million per day.

While director compensation increased, investment in water infrastructure has lagged.

GMB union suggests that such critical infrastructure should be nationalised.

Thames Water wastes the same amount of water as having a hosepipe on for more than 73 years  – every single day. The 24th August is the day the company imposes a drought-related hosepipe ban on 15 million customers. This seems like a reasonable response to drought situations until it becomes clear quite how much water Thames Water loses on a daily basis. The company is telling individuals what to do in order to conserve water – which for many feels like the height of hypocrisy.

Thames Water infamous for leaky infrastructure and water loss

Due to the dire state of its infrastructure, the company loses 635 million litres in leaks every single day. That’s enough to have a hosepipe on for 73 years, fill 245 Olympic-sized swimming pools or fill 8 million baths. Every single day. The GMB points out that in 2021 Thames Water handed its directors more than £4 million, with the highest paid director taking home £1.5 million – up 67% from the year before.

Part of the thinking behind the privatisation of the water industry was the idea that private companies would be more efficient in investment and infrastructure management. But the failure to address leaky infrastructure, which has been a well-known concern for many years, rather undercuts that argument.

Impact of drought and importance of action was well know years ago

Back in 2019, Labour’s London Assembly Environment Spokesperson, Leonie Cooper published a report Running Out or Flooded Out? which said that National Audit Office (NAO) data shows that household water and sewerage bills in England had risen by 40% since privatisation in 1989. Yet investment in water supply infrastructure was lower in 2018 than in 1990. The report also referred to projections from Thames Water itself that the cost of drought to London’s economy alone could be £330 million per day. And yet action remains to be taken.

Thames Water looks after 68,000 miles of sewers and 20,000 miles of clean water pipes from London in the east to Swindon in the west.  The company says that it is fixing over 1,100 leaks on its 20,000-mile network every week and has met its leakage reduction targets for the past three years.

While the network may be complex and hard to manage, it is only recently that a taskforce was put together including utility firms and the Geospatial Commission to consolidate all the data about water infrastructure in one place – something that would make managing and upgrading the network easier.

The Environment Agency said in August 2022 that eight out of the 14 regions in the UK were officially in drought status. Given that the South East has been expected to be in permanent water stress by 2030, none of this is unexpected.

GMB argues that water infrastructure should be in public hands

GMB has long campaigned for water to be brought back into public hands. Andy Prendergast, GMB National Secretary, said:  “From today, 15 million people across the South East can no longer use their hosepipe. Meanwhile every single day, Thames Water wastes enough water to have a hosepipe on for more than 70 years. Instead of spending money to fix the leaky infrastructure, they’re showering directors with eye-watering sums. Privatising water has been a disastrous failed experiment, it’s time to bring this essential natural resource back into public hands.”

Whether or not you agree that the public infrastructure underpinning our water system would be better managed by the public sector – there is little question that Thames Water is suffering further reputational damage.

More from SG Voice

Latest Posts