North's water system leaks 181 million litres per day

The North’s water system is leaking 181 million litres a day at a cost of an estimated £5m (€4.1m) each year, a new report confirmed.

The study by the Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly for the Assembly examined the performance of the government-owned company Northern Ireland Water.

While the quality of drinking water was shown to be improving, coming close to matching European standards and to matching levels in England and Wales, it was noted that the absence of water charging meant there was less money to invest in the system, despite funding from the Department for Regional Development (DRD).

The report found: “Reported leakage levels have reduced steadily since 2001 but improvements to measurement in 2008 indicated that the level was higher than previously thought at 181 million litres a day.

“The department estimated that leakage is costing around £5m a year. Water companies are not expected to fix all leaks but rather to reduce leakage to an economic level where it would cost more to fix leaks than to produce more water.

“NI Water does not have an accurate measure of the economic level of leakage (ELL) for Northern Ireland, making it difficult to measure performance. A new ELL figure is expected in 2011.”

The study said a process of reform of the water system was ongoing. It found that drinking water quality had improved steadily and in 2009 it met 99.74% of European standards. This was only 0.2% lower than in England and Wales.

But it added: “However, both the regulator and the Drinking Water Inspectorate have reported in their most recent publications that significant quality issues remained.”

NI Water was shown to be responsible for nearly a third of all pollution incidents, though the department believes that because NI Water is the single largest body discharging, the risk of pollution is greater.

Unplanned interruptions to supply have reduced and would be rated in Britain as “acceptable”. This is the weakest performance in the UK, with over 600 properties experiencing interruptions lasting more than 24 hours. The department stated that this is because of the much longer length of mains in the North and the dispersed rural population.

The regulator has reported that to match the efficiency of England and Wales, NI Water would need to deliver an improved level of service with half the level of operational funding.

The department said it supports appropriate benchmarking of performance but has reservations about the report’s approach.

It said: “UK water companies have benefited from 20 years of sustained investment through customer charges and are privatised companies which have been run as regulated utilities during that period.

“Benchmarking NI Water against these companies does not reflect the historical context of the water industry in Northern Ireland which has not had this level of investment or operational independence.”