News

The cold weather has arrived it seems, but it’s dry too, and dry weather is the perfect time to spot leaks and bursts.  We're asking for help to find and fix any leaks before the escaping water turns to ice and becomes dangerous. 

Carl Flello, who has been finding and fixing leaks for over ten years, explains why: “We take leakage very seriously and we want to bring leakage levels down as much as possible so that our wonderful supply of water isn’t wasted.  This is especially important at this time of year when the cold weather can sometimes cause pipes to move and burst, and we want to get to any leaks quickly to avoid them causing any problems for our customers.

“When it rains, spotting water coming out of the ground is pretty much impossible, and in those times we have lots of innovative technology and equipment that can help us.  But with 46,000km of pipes to keep an eye on, even with engineers like me out and about twenty-four hours a day finding and fixing leaks, we also rely on our customers to spot water leaks
before we can.  And as the weather has been so dry lately, it should be pretty easy to spot a wet road or pavement.

“So we need our customers help. If you spot water coming out of the road or pavement while you are out and about, it might be a leak.  We really want people to report these to us by calling our Leakline number on 0800 783 4444. And now you can even FaceTime an engineer to show us exactly where the leak is and how bad it is.  Or report the leak using
our on-line form here.  Although if you are visiting our website it’s worth having a look at our ‘Search Your Area’ section here which shows leaks that have already been reported to us.

“In some cases, we don’t know where leaks are until our customers report them.  Please don’t assume we already know about the burst or leak, even if it is a large one: particularly in rural areas where it’s possible for leaks to run for days without being noticed.”

We want to emphasise that each leak or burst is repaired on a priority basis, with those affecting our customers’ water supply being fixed first.  Carl added: “Providing our customers with a continuous supply of wonderful water is a priority for us so we will always fix these leaks first and then focus on others. So please give a good description of the leak when you report it so that we can get to the most urgent first.  The sooner we find the leaks, the sooner we can fix them.”