South West Water’s offer to help customers in Cornwall to find and fix leaky loos to help reduce leakage is being extended to parts of Devon.
The water company recently trialled an offer to household customers in Cornwall to contribute up to £150 towards the repair of leaking toilets. It is now extending that offer to customers in parts of Devon.
It is estimated that around 5% of toilets have leaks, with a leaky loo wasting up to 400 litres of water each day.
This equates to around 16.5 million litres of water wasted daily across the region through leaking toilets – enough on average to supply 300 people for nearly a year.
On top of this, a leaky loo could add up to £70 to a metered customer’s water bill over the course of a year.
To help customers identify leaks in toilets, South West Water has sent Leaky Loo strips to over 550,000 customers across Cornwall and parts of Devon to help identify leaks in toilets. The strips are simply stuck under the rim of the toilet bowl and will start to dissolve or change colour if a small leak – often unnoticed by the naked eye – is detected.
Once the customer has arranged for their toilet to be repaired, South West Water will reimburse up to £150 of that cost.
David Harris, South West Water’s Drought and Resilience Director, said:
“We’re doing all we can to identify and fix leaks on our network faster than ever, and this is just one of the innovative ways we’re supporting customers to tackle their leaks too.
“Not only can repairs to customer toilets help save precious water throughout the year, it could also save money on their bill.”
South West Water is finding and fixing more leaks than ever before – around 2,000 per month – and utilising innovative techniques including satellites to find water leaks two metres underground, drone pilots to cover hard to reach places across Dartmoor and Exmoor, and detection dogs to find leaks in challenging terrain.
The water company continues to take steps to help customers reducing water consumption, and not just during the hotter months of the year. Through its new Water is Precious campaign it is working with customers year-round to make positive changes that will conserve water, manage demand, save money and protect the beautiful environment.
