TasWater is losing enough water every day to fill 28 Olympic-sized swimming pools, a state regulator has revealed.
The latest report from the Tasmanian Economic Regulator shows the state-owned water company is leaking an estimated 10.6 kilolitres of “unaccounted for water” per kilometre of water main each day.
This is significantly higher than the median of 3.4 kilolitres per day experienced by major mainland water utilities.
“TasWater’s water losses continue to be the highest of all major Australian water utilities by a substantial margin,” the report reads.
“TasWater estimates that real losses in its reticulation networks were in the order of 319 litres per service connection per day in 2022-23. This is 3.6% more than the losses estimated for 2021-22 (308 litres).”
With 6,557 kilometres of water main across the state, TasWater was found to be losing a total of 69,504 kilolitres of water daily.
Monitoring tools, including acoustic leak sensor technology, have recently been brought in to improve the company’s ability to find hidden leaks.
The report found that despite the water loss issue, TasWater met safe water drinking targets in 2022-23.
100% of customers received water that met microbiological compliance standards and no water systems were under boil water alerts or long-term do not consume health alerts during the year, although several short-term alerts were issued.
Overall complaints to TasWater decreased by 3.3% to a total of 2,457, with water quality issues including taste, colour and odour caused by leaks and bursts remaining the most common reason.
