South East Water wasting 100 million litres of water a day

South East Water (SEW) is wasting more than 100 million litres of water per day through leakages, figures have revealed.

Data from the watchdog Ofwat shows the crisis-hit company lost 104 million litres of water – equivalent to around 500 million cups of tea - to leaks every single day last year.

Marc Sims, from SEW, said the company was "working hard" to reduce leakage across its network.

He said SEW had "brought in additional repair teams to assist".

The Ofwat figures show that the amount of water leaked increased by 8% in 2024-25 compared with 2019-20, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Kent County councillor Antony Hook said the "clean, treated" water being lost could supply more than 700,000 people - more than a third of the entire population of Kent – daily.

It comes after thousands of SEW customers in Kent experienced spells without running water or an inconsistent supply in May - at times during hot weather.

The water company had put in place a hosepipe ban affecting 1.4 million customers in Sussex and Kent last year.

Councillor Bill Barratt said the "gigantic scale" of leaks showed "how shocking our water infrastructure and resilience actually is".

"I am dumbfounded that South East Water is getting away with wasting water in the region of 100 million litres a day, and yet have the gall to put the public's water bills up," he added.

"It's absolutely shocking."

Rob Yates, another councillor, said SEW should "100% [be] taken out of private ownership - kick them out".

"Every person in Kent knows... that South East Water is not fit for purpose," he added.

SEW raised its prices by an average of 7% from April, bringing the average yearly bill to £324.

The increase provoked an angry reaction from some, with one woman telling the BBC she felt like she was being robbed.

SEW said the rise was needed to invest more money in improving customer service, reducing supply interruptions and strengthening its resilience.

The Ofwat figures emerged after an inquiry by Kent County Council into supply problems in the county.

Councillors pointed to a slew of failures by the water company, including poor communication, alongside the negative effect disruptions had had on farming businesses, education and the care sector.

A recent report from the Consumer Council for Water found more than half of the thousands of people it surveyed now stored bottled water at home in case of future incidents.

Some 24,000 SEW customers had no water supply or low pressure between November and December - weeks later up to 30,000 homes faced days of water chaos.

Ofwat has proposed fining the water company £22m over issues affecting 286,000 people in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023.

Sims, SEW's head of asset management, said in 2025 the company found and fixed more than 21,000 leaks on its network and another 6,000 customer-side leaks.

"This is around a 10% increase on the previous year," he said.

"We have an ongoing programme of maintaining, renewing and refurbishing water mains.

"Maintaining and upgrading our network is a top priority at South East Water."

SEW says on its website it is currently spending around £35m a year on finding and fixing leaks across its network.

It adds it is committed to investing further to reduce the amount of water lost to leaks by half by 2050.

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