The water watchdog ruled that leakage had to be reduced by 15 million litres a day – enough water to supply the whole of Stevenage.

Three Valleys says not only has that been achieved, but they have now reduced leakage by 20 million litres a day.

19 thousand leaks

Three Valleys say there is still more work to be done in the fight to conserve water. Last year Three Valleys repaired 19 thousand leaks on the 11km network. That works out at almost 86 repairs every working day.

As a result Three Valleys is spending around £11m a year looking after the network of water mains and has doubled its investment in leakage control.

Sonic surveillance

Sophisticated sonic devices have been installed on almost 90% of the network of pipes enabling engineers to pinpoint trouble area and notify the team of 60 leakage technicians where to go and look for leaks. Electronic monitoring is to be extended to 95% of the network.

Three Valleys say that almost 90% of all leaks found are repaired within two days.

Leakspotters