To stop London running out of water, a crack squad is hunting down the city's mega leaks

London is leaking. Over the last year more than 500 million litres of water spilled out of the capital’s ageing water infrastructure every day. Thames Water – the utility company that supplies water to most of London’s 8.8 million residents – manages almost 32,000km of aged pipes, 60 per cent of which were laid more than 60 years ago. The oldest are more than 150 years old.

And the strain on London’s creaking pipes is set to get even worse. London’s population is the fastest-growing in the UK, estimated to increase by 8.8 per cent in the decade leading up to 2026. The increasing population and relatively rain-free climate (compared to the north of the country) make the southeast of England the most water stressed part of the UK, with the Environment Agency predicting that, unless things change, the capital will face major water shortages by 2050. Read the full article