Hon ED DERMER asks the Minister for Water about the amount of water lost through leaky pipes in WA for 2008-2011, following a statement by a previous minister. The Minister, Hon HELEN MORTON, provides figures for 'unaccounted for water' which includes leakage, but states a specific leakage figure cannot be calculated and 2010-11 figures are unavailable.

AnsweredQoN 612Legislative Council
Asked
17 August 2011
Portfolio
Water

QuestionView source ↗

WATER LEAKAGE
Some notice of the question has been given. I refer the Minister for Water to a statement by his predecessor. On 1 April 2009, Minister Jacobs stated that work had been done that had shown that Western Australia loses more than 18 gigalitres of water from leaky pipes and that we must therefore look at other measures for water rebates and ways to encourage the better use of water. How many gigalitres of water were lost through leaky pipes in 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11? Hon HELEN MORTON

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. Unaccounted for water includes some leakage, some meter inaccuracy and some legitimate unmetered uses such as firefighting. A specific estimation of just the leakage cannot be calculated. The estimated total unaccounted for water in 2008–09 was approximately 20.4 gigalitres, in 2009–10 it was approximately 19.6 gigalitres and the figures for 2010–11 are not available as the water balance for this year has not yet been completed.
Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. Unaccounted for water includes some leakage, some meter inaccuracy and some legitimate unmetered uses such as firefighting. A specific estimation of just the leakage cannot be calculated. The estimated total unaccounted for water in 2008–09 was approximately 20.4 gigalitres, in 2009–10 it was approximately 19.6 gigalitres and the figures for 2010–11 are not available as the water balance for this year has not yet been completed.
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. Unaccounted for water includes some leakage, some meter inaccuracy and some legitimate unmetered uses such as firefighting. A specific estimation of just the leakage cannot be calculated. The estimated total unaccounted for water in 2008–09 was approximately 20.4 gigalitres, in 2009–10 it was approximately 19.6 gigalitres and the figures for 2010–11 are not available as the water balance for this year has not yet been completed.

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