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It's hard to imagine 780 million litres of water. It's even harder to imagine that this is how much - give or take the odd million litre here or there - Thames Water leaked every day between last April and this March.
That means that for every four
litres of water that make it to a Thames customer's tap, more than one litre is lost on the way.
Yet this staggering amount of leakage still represents a huge improvement for Britain's largest water company. It will be the first time since 2000 Thames has met its leakage targets.
New Zealand infrastructure investment fund Epic, which plans to list on the NZX, has a 1.2 per cent stake in Thames Water. Epic's offer of shares to the public raised $95 million last month.
A source close to Thames Water says it won't be celebrating when it announces the leakage figures this month, to be audited by the water regulator, Ofwat.
"From a company perspective, it's hugely gratifying for all involved. It's nice to know Thames has done it, but there won't be champagne corks popping. Now the company needs to hit this [forthcoming] year's target."
You could forgive staff at Thames a little celebratory tipple after last year's annus horribilis. The second worst drought in Britain in a century forced Thames to impose a hose ban on its eight million residential customers.
But the water company earned opprobrium from consumer groups, MPs and the media when it was found still to be missing its own leakage targets - at the same time as telling consumers to use less water.
Reporting an almost one-third increase in profits - as it pushes through a 24 per cent price rise between 2005 and 2010 - hardly helped, either.
A threatened fine from Ofwat for poor customer service and its leakage record (later commuted to the requirement to spend an extra £150 million ($394 million) on maintenance) capped it all off - but not before Australian bank Macquarie had bought Thames from its German owners, RWE, for £8 billion.
That sale, last October, was at a 20 per cent premium to the regulated asset value of the company and, despite its failings, served only to underline its value.
There's no doubt that Thames' recent record is dismal. The company has come up with all manner of excuses to explain its poor performance, including "it's the wrong type of rain" and "London has the wrong type of soil".
But it is true that many of Thames' problems are not of its own making. It is grappling with two huge issues outside its control - population growth and climate change.
London's population will increase by a fifth over the next 20 years, say government figures, and summers are becoming drier. When it rains, it rains more heavily and in a shorter period, meaning companies need to have bigger reservoirs to store the water so it can last through the summer.
John Devall, the director of Northumbrian Water (which owns Essex & Suffolk Water) with particular responsibility for the south, says: "Especially with climate change, it's clear we need more storage. We have more very dry periods followed by heavier rain, and need to be able to capture and store the water when it is there."
Water scarcity has become such an issue for the southeast that One NorthEast, the regional development agency, has begun a campaign to try to encourage companies to relocate to the north.
Thames has been in "supply deficit" for many years, meaning it does not have enough spare water for dry years.
This is partly because of the antiquated network of pipes, which leak more water than anywhere else in the country. These are gradually being replaced.
But unless Thames takes action, the water shortage will get even worse, and soon. According to the company's last estimates, within 10 years demand for water will outstrip supply if nothing is done.
The company wants to build a £200 million desalination plant in east London to turn salty water from the River Thames into drinking water, which would increase its supply by about 5 per cent.
But after opposition from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, the project has been mired in planning limbo for the past two years.
Of more significance - and far more contentious - is Thames' proposal to build a £1 billion reservoir in Abingdon, near Oxford. This would increase the company's storage capacity by 70 per cent and, although not a permanent solution, would help to stem the area's supply shortage.
Devall says environmental legislation is making it harder for companies to build new projects such as the Abingdon reservoir or to extract water from rivers.
Rival water companies in the southeast may not be happy at having to depend on Thames' new reservoir for extra supplies.
Thanks to high rainfall last winter, it's unlikely that Thames will impose another hose ban this summer. Consumer groups and the media will focus on whether Thames and other water companies meet their leakage targets.
But it won't be enough on its own to make sure the water keeps flowing. New reservoirs are needed, and water conservation measures need to be given far more attention.
- INDEPENDENT
