Ofwat is today releasing new figures that shed light on the water industry's performance on reducing leakage.

Affinity Water has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 – the utility said it had been financially impacted by COVID-19 throughout 2020/21, and expects this to continue into 2021/22.

Round-the clock data from nearly 450,000 smart meters across the capital has helped Thames Water find and repair a record number of leaks, hit its regulatory target and reduce overall leakage from its 20,000 mile network of pipes by 15 per cent in just one year.

Anglian Water engineers are about to begin a trial using fibre optic cables to detect hard to find leaks invisible to the naked eye in their water pipe network.

Thames Water has gone out to tender with a major contract for leak detection and testing services worth an estimated £203 million in total.