News

We're asking our customers, would they know what to do with a leaky loo?

A leaky toilet can waste up to 400 litres of drinking water a day, which is enough to fill 5 baths and can more than double the average family’s water bill.

Doug Clarke, water resources lead, said: “Having a leaky loo, is basically the equivalent of turning the tap on and leaving it to run all day.  And we think between 5% and 8% of all toilets are leaking – mostly dual flush ones.  It’s such a waste of valuable drinking water, so we really want people to get into the habit of checking the toilet and fixing any leaks.

“Prime culprits for leaks are the new eco-friendly dual flush toilets where you have a choice of a small flush or a bigger flush.  Lots of people don’t understand what the two buttons are for, or just use the big button for a better flush, meaning more drinking water is being wasted.  And the buttons can get stuck, meaning a constant stream of water flows down all day.”

To check if you have a leaky loo, we're giving away free dye tablets here.  A leak isn’t always easy to spot with the naked eye, as the water just dribbles invisibly inside the cistern, down the
pan and into the water.  But simply changing the water colour with a dye tablet will allow you to see any leaks.  They’re really easy to use - simply drop the tablet in the toilet cistern and in a few moments you'll know if your cistern is leaking into the toilet bowl.  There's no mess and the dye will disappear in a few flushes.

And if you do find you have a leaky loo, and you need a plumber, we have a list of WaterSafe approved plumbers here, so you can find someone you can trust.

Doug continued: “If everyone fixed their leaky loos we could save 400 million litres of water a day – enough to supply the populations of Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Cardiff, Belfast and Liverpool combined!  And if you’re on a water meter, fixing your leaky loo could halve your water bill too.

“So go and check out your loo and see if it’s leaky!”