Reducing leaks

Sydney Water is:

spending $100 million a year to reduce leaks
inspecting 18,000 kilometres of pipes for hidden leaks each year
replacing more than 100 kilometres of water mains each year in high priority areas.

On any given day, Sydney Water has around 60-70 maintenance crews responding to breaks and leaks. Crews are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure urgent main breaks are responded to as quickly as possible.

Sydney Water owns around 21,000 kilometres of pipes, which carry water to households, businesses and localities across Sydney, Illawarra and the Blue Mountains.

We also maintain more than 16,000 kilometres of customers' pipes that connect Sydney Water's mains to individual properties. However, the property owner is responsible for the pipes between the meter and the house.

Related material

Leak priority definitions & descriptions (extract of IPART-SWC monitoring & reporting protocol) (PDF - 40KB)

Sydney Water’s Leak Reduction Activities (PDF - 64KB)

Monthly Leak Report (PDF - 29KB)

Prospect to Potts Hill Pipeline (PDF - 41KB)

Pymble to Warringah Pipeline (PDF - 41KB)

Water Pressure Management Program

Woronora Pipeline (PDF - 41KB)

Working together to prevent leaks (PDF - 2.33MB)

Managing leaks and breaks (WMV - 8.9MB)