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Sydney Water’s leak reduction activities
- Working together to prevent leaks
- Sydney water's leak reduction activities
- What causes leaks and breaks
- How to report a leak
- What happens after a leak is reported
- Why repairs may not be done straight away
The Active Leak Reduction Program is a major Sydney Water campaign to reduce water loss from leaking pipes.
This program aims to detect and repair hidden leaks along Sydney Water's 21,000 kilometres of water pipelines and the vast network water main to meter pipes owned by customers. This work reduces the amount of water lost to underground leaks and the number of leaks that may have become visible later on the ground.
Hidden leaks are detected by using sophisticated listening devices that pick up the noise that water makes as it leaks from a pipe. This activity is best carried out at night, when it is quiet and there is not as much noise in the pipes from customers using water.
Since 1999, Sydney Water has checked the entire 21,000 kilometre network of pipeline.
In 2004/05, Sydney Water inspected almost 8,000 kilometres of pipeline and repaired hidden leaks as they were found.
This activity has already resulted in savings of 49 million litres of water per day - around 49 Olympic sized swimming pools per day.
Sydney Water plans to inspect the equivalent of 18,000 kilometres of water mains each year - targeting those areas that will produce the biggest leakage reductions.
There are also specific leak reduction programs in place on Sydney Water's major aboveground pipelines including Woronora, Warringah and Prospect.