Limelight on fixing leaks in Thames Water’s latest ad campaign

Thames Water is placing the spotlight firmly on its frontline workers highlighting the hard work that takes place to find and fix leaks, around the clock, seven days a week, in its latest TV ad. Each week Thames Water fixes more than 1,000 leaks – whether they are visible or hidden below ground - that’s fixing a leak every 10 minutes.

The leaks campaign features real repair engineers Danny and Tom as they hit the road to fix a leak. The creative aims to highlight how the business is taking ownership to upgrade its Victorian pipework to be fit for the 21st century, future proofing its network in the process. 

The advert shows repairs engineers Danny and Tom hitting the road in their van as the opening voiceover declares “while you’re watching footy, we’re fixing a leak”. The advert ends encouraging customers to report any leaks they see in the street on the Thames Water website, with a reminder that ‘Every Drop Counts’. 

Andrew Tucker, water demand manager at Thames Water, said: “Following this year’s drought, it is more important than ever that we use water wisely and protect this precious resource as much as possible. The recent rain has replenished supplies and we’ve now lifted the hosepipe ban, however we remain focused to do everything we can to protect our precious supplies.” 

“Our top priority to managing water supply is to fix leaks on our network. That’s why we’re tackling the issue head on, investing millions to upgrade our Victorian infrastructure bringing it up to date for the 21st century – repairing more than 1,000 leaks a week.”

“We’re also asking customers to join forces with us, encouraging them to report any leaks they see when out and about. There’s a huge value in having an extra pair of eyes on our network and we’re grateful to all our customers who take the time to report a potential leak.” 

Andrew Tucker added: “We’re also calling on customers to fix leaks at home; like dripping taps and leaky loos. Around a third of the leaks we report are actually taking place inside homes and businesses. By fixing leaks at home customers can also save money on their bill.”

Thames Water is rapidly increasing its smart meter rollout, where customers only pay for water used. The investment will focus on expanding the company's smart meter footprint from more than 700,000 meters today, to approximately 1.1m by 2025 and 2m by the end of the decade.

The meters will be key to tackling customer side leaks, as they can indicate when water is being used even at times where we wouldn’t expect this to be the case. 

We also have an extensive capital programme to help us fix more leaks in the future. In the next three years we will spend over £55m installing dynamic pressure management helping to modulate pressure across our network for varying demands, helping reduce leakage. We will also spend close to £200m on replacing water mains over the next three years. 

Customers can find out more about Thames Water’s work to find and fix leaks by visiting its dedicated webpage, where they can also report any suspected leaks they may see.