Londoners face £1bn water pressure bill

Londoners are facing a £1billion bill to safeguard their water supplies, a report warns.

Thames Water is proposing to reduce water pressure across the capital in a bid to stem leakages of almost one billion litres each day - enough to fill 17 Olympic swimming pools an hour.

But lower water pressure will compromise supplies to high-rise homes. And the London Assembly says up to £1 billion will have to be spent on new pumps and pipes to ensure thousands of people living above the third floor in tower and mansion blocks are still able to use showers and combi boilers. About 300,000 London council tenants live above the third floor.

Private homeowners affected by the lack of pressure will have to pay for their own pumps, which cost £11,000 each, although one works for an entire building. A private owner of a four-storey townhouse would need to invest the full £11,000, but people living in flats could share the bill.

The Assembly's health and public services committee has warned the total cost - between £90million and £340 million for councils alone - could rise to £1billion once housing association properties and private homes are included.

It says fire sprinklers and hydrants could also be affected, and fears a health risk from lower pressures letting waste water flow back into the system.

The committee says if Thames Water - which makes profits of ?200 million a year - lowers the pressure it must foot the bill.

Joanne McCartney, the Labour committee chairwoman, said: "Thames Water's plans to reduce water pressure could be devastating for millions of Londoners.

"The lower pressure could also increase risks of contamination and compromise the quality of drinking water and public health."

Meanwhile, water and sewerage bills are to rise by 24 per cent over the next five years to an average of £261 a year at a time when Thames Water has been criticised for failing to comprehensively tackle leakages.

Today's report criticises the company in "the strongest terms" for promoting its sister firm, Engenica, as a supplier of water pumps to correct the pressure reduction it was itself imposing.

Thames Water, which has begun surveying properties in Waltham Forest, Enfield, Haringey and Newham to assess the effects of a pressure reduction, said the Assembly's estimates were grossly inaccurate.

It said the true cost was likely to be closer to ?20 million and that a maximum of 1,000 London buildings would be affected.

A spokesman said: "We agree we should pay towards the costs and we are prepared to pay a sizeable proportion.

"We are surveying all tall buildings to see if our work will have an impact and discussing with owners any work that might be needed regarding installation of pumps."

He added: "We want to make it easier and quicker to transport water from area to area."