County leaders have criticised South West Water after an official letter revealed the monopoly supplier is still missing leakage targets and now putting customers at risk of losing supply despite being warned for seven straight years.
The joint October 26 letter from industry regulator OFWAT, the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) revealed by the Guardian says South West Water’s owner Pennon has been warned for seven successive years that its repeated failures to meet its own forecasts on reducing leakage are putting drought-hit customers and businesses in danger of supply restrictions.
It states: “Leakage is 18.5 per cent above forecast …..and increased since the previous year. Given the ongoing drought conditions, these shortcomings are placing customers at a greater level of risk. This is not acceptable.”
South West Water forecast its leakage would fall but in fact it increased by 5.78 million litres in 2025/26 to 113.54 million litres per day – around 45 Olympic swimming pools in volume. The company also lost 5.57 million litres daily to bursts and supply interruptions above its own forecasts and put an extra 35 million litres of water every day into its network every day to make up for losses and keep taps flowing.
Last week, customers in areas most affected by drought began receiving letters from South West Water urging them to save water. However, the joint OFWAT, Environment Agency and DEFRA letter says they have “reduced confidence” in the company to ensure supplies and avoid emergency abstractions from rivers that will cause environment damage.
It adds: “A trend of rising leakage……represents a risk to your customers’ security of supply. Achieving your planned leakage reductions is reputationally important as you are asking customers to reduce their water use.”
Devon County Council Leader Julian Brazil commented:
“Householders and businesses have been told to save water to avoid worse drought restrictions and that was all down to the dry weather.
“Now we learn South West Water has been continually warned for seven years it’s not doing its bit on leakage. Their record is somehow even worse and that failure puts our rivers and wildlife at risk of prolonged environmental damage and may leave customers and businesses facing supply restrictions.
“I would say it’s a surprise but it’s not because this crisis has been decades in the making. While we’ve been paying the highest bills in the nation since 1989, South West Water has been busy continually polluting our bathing waters, busy losing nearly one in every five litres of water on its network and most busy paying out billions in dividends to its shareholders.
“I’m pleased the Prime Minister and regulators are finally telling water companies it’s closing time in their last chance saloon but businesses and families in Devon may be left picking up the pieces left by South West Water’s appalling record of greed and failure.
“I’m sure Devonians, businesses and public bodies will do their best to save water. South West Water can help them by funding from its own deep pockets a huge, Devon-centred communications campaign, getting a grip on leakage and making sure it is working with every customer, business and council to avoid the most dire consequences yet of its own neglect.”
