Why broken water companies are failing England and Wales

Water bills have gone up – Ofwat estimates that they will be 67% higher in real terms in 2025-2030 than they were in 1989-1994 – but customers widely believe they are receiving a worse service. Some have suffered serious outages, most recently in Kent and Sussex, where about 30,000 households were left without water for up to six days in January. Many complain of low pressure and the regular imposition of hosepipe bans, when an estimated three billion litres of water are lost to leaks every day in England and Wales.