Spotted a leak?

Leakage is a problem for water suppliers everywhere, and especially in the North West, as our network was one of the first big systems ever built.

We are working hard to reduce leakage and we are investing to modernise our mains network by replacing around 800 kilometres of mains a year with new plastic pipes. This has helped to halve the total level of leakage since the early 1990s.

Spotted a leak?

With your help we can reduce leakage even further. If you discover a water leak in a road or public footpath, please call Leakline on 0800 33 00 33. (Textphone 0808 143 0295.) You can also complete this online form.

What happens next?

• The information you have given us will be used to send one of our Customer Liaison Officers to the location of the leak.
• Once the leak has been inspected we will then arrange for our engineers to carry out the repair.

Although we try to repair leaks within 5 working days of the inspection, please bear in mind that emergency repairs in your area may affect this.

Monitor your water usage

We encourage metered customers to monitor consumption on a regular basis to help identify if a leak occurs.

If you discover a leak on your property and repair it within four weeks of discovering it, you can make a claim for a refund on the sewerage charges that apply to the water loss during this period providing you can demonstrate non-return to sewer. Further information and a claim form can be found in our burst allowance section.

Help for businesses

We also offer a leakage detection and repair service to help our business customers minimise losses from underground water pipes, helping to save money and prevent damage to customers' sites. For further details about this service, contact our leakage detection and repair team on 0845 050 2213.

Business customers may also be able to make a claim if they suffer a burst. Further information and a claim form can be found in our burst allowance section for non-household customers.

Preventing burst pipes

If a pipe freezes it can split and can cause a leak.

You should insulate or 'lag' your pipes and water tanks to prevent frost damage in the winter. See the Top tips for winter page for more helpful tips.

Fixing drips

Fitting a new washer to a dripping tap can be a real water saver. A slowly dripping tap can waste a litre of water a day, and if it is the hot water tap you are also paying to heat this wasted water.

Overflowing cisterns

Fit new ball-valves in cisterns which are overflowing. As the overflow will run outside, you may not notice it, so it is good to check all overflows regularly.