An average of 3 billion litres of water is wasted every day in England and Wales due to leaky pipes, House of Commons library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows. This is the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic sized swimming pools of water being lost every day due to leakages.
“It is outrageous that Southern Water is raising customers’ bills by nearly 47% and is planning to spend billions of pounds on a project that will result in recycled wastewater being pumped into Portsmouth Water’s new drinking water reservoir at Havant Thicket, while allowing more than 100 million litres of water to be lost each day due to leaky pipes,” said Jess.
Portsmouth Water was given planning permission to construct an 8.7 billion litre reservoir at Havant Thicket near Rowlands Castle in 2021. The reservoir is intended to secure water supplied for the southeast and to protect the chalk streams of the River Test and River Itchen by reducing water abstraction. While the original project was supported by the local council and public, it ran into controversy when Southern Water offered to help fund the reservoir and supplement supplies of water using treated wastewater from its Budds Farm sewage treatment works. The wastewater would be cleaned using a process known as reverse osmosis.
Earlier this year 2025 Ofwat approved additional funding for Southern Water to provide more evidence in preparation for a Development Consent Order. Ofwat’s determination on the project, expected later in 2025, likely will influence whether the project moves forward.