‘Silent crisis’ as damaging chemical wreaks havoc – leaky taps to blame | UK | News
Campaigners have warned of a “silent crisis” where chemicals could be damaging rivers due to leaky pipes. Phosphate is intentionally added to tap water to prevent lead from pipes from entering the water supply; This is a process that protects public health.
Around 19% of tap water in England and Wales leaks from pipes into the environment every day, releasing around 1,200 tonnes of harmful phosphorus per year; This is equivalent to the weight of 100 double-decker buses. The Angling Trust described this as a “silent crisis” driving eutrophication; Here, excess nutrients cause algal blooms, depleting dissolved oxygen and harming fish and other aquatic life. Raw sewage and agricultural waste also make significant contributions to nutrient levels in the environment.
Alex Farquhar, campaigner for the Angling Trust, said: “We urgently need to see all lead pipes replaced, but at the current rate we will have to wait 1,000 years or more. “Meanwhile, phosphate pollution from leaky pipes is the silent killer of our waterways.
“It is clear that the water industry will not make the necessary changes on its own. We need regulatory action to accelerate lead pipe replacement and leakage reduction, because the environment cannot wait.”
Although the use of lead pipes in new installations was banned in the UK in 1970 due to the harmful effects of lead poisoning on human health, countless old lead pipes still remain in place.
The Angling Trust’s Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) found that more than half (62%) of 60 tap water samples reached 2.5 ppm, the highest possible reading on phosphate monitors.
WQMN found that 34% of all river samples tested between July 2023 and July 2024 violated “good ecological status” in terms of phosphate concentration.
The Angling Trust has called for a significant increase in investment to replace lead pipes. He also called on the Government to make reducing pipe leakage a requirement backed by penalties and rewards.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “This Government recognizes the increasing pressure on our water system and is taking decisive action.
“More than £104bn of private investment is being spent on fixing crumbling pipes and reducing sewage pollution, as well as creating nine new reservoirs to secure our water supply. We’ve also ring-fenced the investment so customers’ hard-earned money is never again spent on bonuses and shareholder payouts.”
A Water UK spokesperson said:“Leakage is at its lowest ever recorded, falling by more than a third since the 1990s and falling by more than 8% in the last four years alone. Water companies will invest record amounts to repair leaks and improve infrastructure over the next five years to improve leakage even further.”
