Water Resources 2025 to 2026: Analysis of the Water Industry's Annual Water Resources Performance
- Overall demand for water has increased slightly to 14,110 million litres a day.
- Leakage remains largely unchanged at 2,621 million litres a day and is not reducing in line with planned levels.
- Household water consumption remains stable at 136.9 litres per person per day.
- 65.2% of households are metered, with almost 20% now smart metered.
- Some companies are experiencing demand above forecast levels, while some planned water supply schemes face delays or delivery risks.
What is this report?
This annual review assesses the first year of delivery against water companies’ Water Resources Management Plan 2024 commitments. It provides an assessment of progress against planned reductions, improvements and supply schemes.
What does it cover?
The report assesses delivery against commitments covering leakage reduction, water demand, smart meter rollout, and planned supply schemes. It covers the reporting period from April 2025 to March 2026.
Headline performance
While progress has been made in some areas, overall performance indicates that many companies are not currently on track to achieve many planned reductions and improvements.
Key facts
What happens next?
The Environment Agency will continue to monitor companies' delivery against their water resources commitments and use regulatory engagement and performance assessment to identify where further action is needed.
Water companies need to deliver the measures and investment set out in their plans, including action to manage demand, reduce leakage and secure resilient water supplies.
Continued reporting will provide transparency over progress, helping the public, government and regulators understand whether companies are delivering the improvements needed to strengthen long-term water resilience.