What a supply pipe leak costs you
The water is the part people notice first and it is rarely the expensive part. A leak that has been running for a season has usually started doing something to the ground as well.
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The water, in litres rather than adjectives
A supply pipe leak is metered like any other use, so you are billed for water that never reaches a tap. The middle row is measured: an ADI customer recorded that rate at their property before the leak was located.
| Rate of loss | Litres a day | Litres a year | What that looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 litre a minute | 1,440 | 525,600 | A weep. Invisible on the ground, easy to miss on a quarterly bill, and still half a million litres a year. |
| 220 litres an hour | 5,280 | 1,927,200 | The rate one ADI customer measured at their own property before the leak was found and repaired. |
| 10 litres a minute | 14,400 | 5,256,000 | A failed joint or a split on a larger run. This is the size that softens ground and moves paving. |
Daily and annual figures are the stated rate multiplied out. What that costs depends on your supplier's tariff, which is why no money figure appears here.
What it does besides waste water
A repair notice you have to act on
Under the Water Industry Act 1991 a water company can serve notice requiring the owner to repair a leaking supply pipe within a set period, commonly fourteen days. If the work is not done they can carry it out and recharge it. The notice tells you that you have a leak. It does not tell you where.
Ground that stops supporting things
Water running continuously under a drive washes the fines out of the bedding. Block paving starts to rock, slabs dip, and a tarmac surface cracks along the line of the pipe. Near a wall or a bay the same process undermines the ground the structure sits on.
Damp arriving indoors
Water follows the easiest route, which is often the outside of the pipe itself, in through the point where it enters the building. The damp then appears at the base of a wall or under a floor, a long way from anything that looks like a leak.
A claim that gets harder to make
Insurers look at how long a leak has been running and what was done once it was known about. A dated report naming the fault and the repair is the difference between a straightforward escape of water claim and a long argument about gradual damage.
Help with leak costs
Your supplier may offer repair assistance or an allowance for metered water lost through a leak. Schemes and application deadlines vary, so check before arranging private work.
Insurance may cover parts of the investigation, access or damage. The policy wording, excess and exclusions determine what is payable. Keep the report, invoice and meter readings for any application.
A past customer receiving a refund does not guarantee that another customer will qualify.
Discuss the leak and your options
Ask your supplier or insurer about cover before commissioning work. Seven days a week, 7am to 9pm.
The office team speak to every customer before an engineer is booked, and the engineer who attends is the one who writes the report.
Seven days a week, 7am to 9pm
England, Scotland and Wales. £5 million public liability insurance.