We have a leakage team working across Yorkshire and sophisticated telemetry technology to help us find leaks, but we still require your help. If you spot a leak, please let us know immediately.
How to report a leak
Phone
You can also call us on
0800 57 3553
Please supply the following information:
Location of the leak (postcode, street name and town/village, or landmark and town/village)
Type of leak (pool of water, trickle down street, flowing stream, like a fountain)
Your contact details (we only require these in case we need to phone you back)
Online
We're making some improvements to our online leak reporting form so this option is currently unavailable. Please call us on
0800 57 3553 so that we can respond quickly.
Things to know before reporting a leak
How do I know if it's a leak?
What is a leak?
A leak can mean a burst water mains which usually results in clear running water in the street or water emerging from a surface such as a road; water escaping from a water supply pipe (the pipe that runs from the street boundary to your home that supplies fresh water) or a leaking valve, stop tap or hydrant (the yellow signs with an H).
Bursts and leaks can be anything from a small patch of water to something that looks like a fountain.
What isn't a leak?
Water that's standing still which appears after heavy rainfall or water that collects over a drain after rain are typically not leaks. Feel free to call us though if you're unsure.
The location of the leak and who's responsible?
Inside your property
You're responsible for the maintenance of the plumbing inside your home, for example water pipes, water tanks and overflows.
Outside your property, but still on your land
You're also responsible for the pipework from the boundary of your property up to where it enters your home (known as the water supply pipe - see illustration below). Although leaks on the supply pipe are legally your responsibility , if you have a leak on this pipe we may be able to help repair it under our free leak repair service, but terms and conditions apply. Please see Leakage from customers' supplies leaflet below for details of the free scheme.
Responsibility for pipework
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Leakage from customers' supplies
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Outside your property boundary
If the leak is outside your property boundary and on our water pipe (pipes in roads, footpaths, and the pipe that leads up to your property boundary) then this is our responsibility.
How quickly will you fix leaks?
We take any leaks very seriously and will try to fix them as quickly as we can, but we have to prioritise which ones we attend to first so we can minimise any impact on our customers. This may mean that some leaks, usually the smaller ones that aren't on our mains and don't affect customers, are not resolved for a number of days until we get round to fixing them.
Why is there blue paint outside my house?
If we've been out to investigate a leak but can't fix it there and then, we'll mark the area with blue spray paint so we can easily identify it later.
Why do leaks happen?
Leaks or bursts can be caused by many different things like old and weak pipework, damage by other utilities excavating, severe weather events like freezing temperatures, or even by people putting fences up and not knowing they had water pipes under their feet.
What we're doing to reduce the number of leaks
As part of a £39 million investment programme we're working hard across Yorkshire to improve the resilience of our water mains to cope with extreme weather conditions and recruiting more people to help us find and fix leaks.
Find out more about how we're tackling leakage .