Almost 40 per cent of all water due to be delivered to households and non-domestic customers in 2022 was lost due to leakages, according to the findings of a new report by a State watchdog.
The report published by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities has revealed that 626 million litres of water – the equivalent of 7.8 million baths – was lost on a daily basis due to “public side leakage”.
It represented approximately 37 per cent of all water supplies provided by Uisce Éireann in 2022.
The CRU said the figures indicated that Uisce Éireann was no longer on track to achieve its target of reducing public side leakage by 161 million litres per day over a five-year period by the target date of the end of 2024.
The regulator said it was “concerning” that annual leakage savings had fallen from 41 million litres per day in 2021 to 11 million litres per day in 2022.
The CRU report revealed that in addition to the 626 million litres lost on a daily basis through leakage, a further 12 million litres – the equivalent of 150,000 baths – was considered to be “unaccounted for water” while another 17 million litres (212,500 baths) was used for operational use.
It also showed that 30 million litres of water was saved daily during 2022 as a result of the First Fix Scheme – up from 14 million litres the previous year.
However, the CRU said the high annual increase was likely to be due to the recommencement of leak repair activities following the Covid-19 pandemic.
It noted that only 46 per cent of all customers responded to notification to avail of the First Fix Scheme after potential leaks had been identified on their properties in 2022.
The regulator encouraged all customers to engage with Uisce Éireann once they were notified about a leak in order for the First Fix Scheme to be successful.
The CRU report showed Uisce Éireann provided water services to over 1.8 million customers in 2022, of which approximately 90 per cent were households.
An annual average of 126,000 litres was consumed by each household or 345 litres (4.3 baths) per day.
Usage above the annual household allowance set by the Minister of the Environment of 213,000 litres – which is the equivalent of 584 litres per day – may incur an excess use charge in the coming years.
Non-domestic premises consumed an average of 1,772 litres per day.
The report also revealed that the top 10% of metered households accounted for 35 per cent of all water consumption.
The top 1 per cent - approximately 16,000 households – was responsible for approximately 13 per cent of all demand in 2022.
The CRU said the average water consumption by such households was 14 times the demand of average domestic customers.
