Water Saving Week 2026, run by the charity Waterwise, took place from Monday 4 to Friday 8 May. This year’s theme was “Protect Water for Wildlife”, with five daily themes. Day 3, Wednesday 6 May, was “Stop leaks, save habitats”, about how hidden leaks waste large amounts of water and how fixing them protects rivers, ponds and wetlands.
The leak most people don’t think about
Water-saving advice usually focuses on what is inside the house: dripping taps, running toilets, long showers. Those matter. But the pipe most homeowners forget is the one they own under the garden or drive.
Severn Trent says the supply pipe from the property boundary to the house belongs to the homeowner, even where it crosses someone else’s land. A leak on it never shows in a bathroom. It often doesn’t show on the surface either, because the water drains down. The only sign may be a meter that keeps turning.
A five-minute check, any week of the year
- Turn off every tap and appliance that uses water.
- Close the internal stop tap, usually under the kitchen sink.
- Watch the water meter for five minutes.
If the meter still moves, water is escaping between the meter and the house. That is a leak on your supply pipe, and it runs 24 hours a day. A leak of just one litre a minute adds up to 525,600 litres over a year.
Meter moving with everything off?
That is a supply-pipe leak. Get it located.
If you find a leak
The steps are the same whatever the week:
- Get it located before anyone digs. See how to find a water leak underground.
- Get it fixed through one hole over the marked spot.
- Claim Severn Trent‘s one-off leakage allowance on the lost water once it is repaired.
Coming up
Waterwise’s next campaign, Water Night, runs in October 2026 and asks people to turn off their taps for a moment and think about how much they rely on water. Details are on the Waterwise site.