Blame the Victorians

In London, half of the water mains are more than 100 years old, and around a third are over 150. Fortunately, the aging pipes don't seem to affect water quality, but they do leak. Thames Water estimates that it loses at least 200 million gallons of water every day through leakage. With water restrictions currently in place one can't help wondering how much of the drought is real, and how much of it is caused by an aging infrastructure.

In 2002, Thames Water started a major works program designed to replace almost 1000 miles of Victorian water mains by 2010. The replacement program hit the news a few weeks ago when Thames Water was fined more than £140 million for failing to meet its latest leak reduction targets. Last year it lost 72 billion gallons of water despite replacing more than 130 miles of pipe in the first three years of its leak reduction program. To avoid paying the fine, Thames Water agreed to accelerate the pace of pipe replacement, incurring an additional capital cost equal to the impending fine.

At the moment, King Street in Hammersmith is having its mains replaced, just outside my office door. Each morning I pass by a trench more than 100 metres long where bright blue, heavy-duty plastic water pipes are being installed. I can't help wondering if headlines in 100 year years hence will complain about the toxins being released by degrading plastic pipes.

Today, we experienced a dramatic flood in Hammersmith as one of the major mains ruptured sending thousands of gallons of water pouring into the street. The rupture was further complicated by a gas leak. By 6:00pm the police were asking our office to evacuate as a precaution. I get the impression someone hit the wrong pipe and now has some serious explaining to do. I'd try blaming the Victorians.