Hosepipe ban firms losing millions of gallons though leaks Southern Water has one of the worst records in the country for leaks; Anglian Water last year missed its target for reducing leaks; Veolia Central has been warned officialy that is has not done enough to repair its underground pipes; The other hosepipe ban firms lose millions of gallons a day in leaks. There are also questions over how much water a hosepipe ban would save. Last time it introduced similar restrictions, in 2006, Thames Water saw consumption fall by only five per cent. But the figures published by Ofwat and analysed by the Sunday Telegraph show that each of the firms lost a far greater proportion in leaks - suggesting that if they had prevented them, there might have been no need for a ban. Last year Southern Water, which made an operating profit of £191m in 2010-2011, failed to meet its target for reducing leaks for the second year running and has been ordered by Ofwat to return £5 million to customers through their bills. Ofwat figures show that in 2010-2011 Southern Water lost 96 million litres of water per day (Ml/d, the official unit of measurement) in leaks - enough to supply five cities the size of Exeter with water for a year. The amount lost amounted to 16 per cent of its daily total. As a result it missed the target set by Ofwat for reducing leaks to 83 Ml/d by 16 per cent. At the same time as they face a hosepipe ban, households in Southern Water's area will have to pay 8.2 per cent more for their supplies from next month, with their annual water and sewerage bill rising to £416. Anglian Water missed its target on reducing leaks by eight per cent. The firm - whose slogan is "love every drop" - lost 230 million litres per day last year, just under 20 per cent of its total. Despite this it has raised its prices by 5.4 per cent this year, with the total annual household bill rising to £423. Anglian and Southern have also been criticised by Ofwat for not doing enough to repair their underground infrastructure of pipes and mains, along with Veolia Central, which supplies customers in north London, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. Although the other four companies imposing restrictions are not among the worst offenders when it comes to tackling leaks, they still waste huge amounts of water every day. Thames Water sees a quarter of its total supplies wasted through leaks and burst pipes, despite hitting its Ofwat target to reduce leaks last year. South East Water lost 95 Ml/d, adding up to 17 per cent of its total, while Veolia Central lost 21 per cent of its supplies - 181 Ml/d - and Veolia South East saw just over 17 per cent of its water washed down the drain through leaks. Sutton and East Surrey Water lost 15 per cent in leaks. The figures have prompted criticism from consumer groups. Dame Yve Buckland, chairman of the Consumer Council for Water, said, "With bills going up, it's never been more important for customers to feel that they are getting value for money. Water Companies need to do more to reduce leakage, particularly in times of drought when they are asking their customers to save water. Water company leakage is very important to customers and can be a real barrier to people doing their bit to conserve water. Water companies need to show their customers that they are doing everything they can. Thames Water has also been criticised for the amount of time it takes to repair leaks. Figures obtained show that of 441 recent leaks in its area, just 210 were repaired within the five days promised by Thames Water, while 48 had still not been repaired after 20 days. In one case Jeremy Gompertz QC reported a leak from a mains pipe into the basement of his flat in Highbury, north London, on nine separate occasions between December last year and February. "It's outrageous that when we're threatened with water restrictions because of drought they can't be bothered to come and remedy a leak which has been running for two months," said Mr Gompertz, 41. Elsewhere John Tamplin, a financial adviser from Henley-on-Thames, had to wait two days before Thames Water dispatched engineers to repair a burst pipe sending water gushing up through the paved drive of his home. The incident came just days after Oxfordshire was declared to be in a state of drought. Mr Tamplin, 55, said: "I was just amazed that Thames Water could be so wasteful with the water when they are telling us to economise and look after this valuable resource." Thames Water has now apologised for the amount of time it takes to visit and repair leaks. A spokesman said: "We fix leaks in order of priority to prevent as much water as possible from being wasted. However, we recognise that in some cases the speed we fix leaks isn't good enough. We are continually working to improve that. The firm, which last year made an operating profit of £600 million, pointed out it had cut leakage from its pipes by a third since its peak in 2004 and has invested millions of pounds in repairing leaks in recent years. Together the 21 water companies in England and Wales lost 3,361 Ml/d of water in leaks, just under a quarter of their total supplies. Regina Finn, the chief executive of Ofwat, said: "These failures send a poor signal about how companies value water. Customers tell us that leakage is an issue that matters to them. They need to have confidence that their company is doing their part to use water wisely. Anglian water said it was "extremely disappointed" to have missed its leak reduction target for the first time in 10 years and pointed out that it had invested £14m in repairing leaks last year and employed an extra 62 workers to tackle the problem. A spokesman for the firm said: "While we are disappointed to have missed our target for the first time in 10 years, these figures need to be seen against the backdrop of the harshest winter in living memory. The extremes of temperature we endured in December caused a 300 per cent increase in the number of leaks and bursts we had to deal with. Southern Water said it was replacing 97 miles of pipes as part of a £55.5 million programme to cut leaks between now and 2013. A spokesman said: "We were disappointed to fail our leakage targets in 2009/10 and 2010/11. This was due to two exceptionally cold winters which saw pipes burst at an alarming, record high rate. We have teams working around the clock to repair leaks - but not all leaks are visible, making them difficult to find. And 20 per cent of leaks are on customers" pipes."