Water companies in England and Wales lost more than 1tn litres via leaky pipes last year, according to the sector’s latest figures.

The industry and its financial regulator, Ofwat, say the water companies lost an average of 2,923.8m litres of water a day in 2021-22, equating to 1.06tn litres over the year, although Ofwat said the figures remained provisional until it has completed validation checks.

The figure amounts to the equivalent of 426,875 Olympic swimming pools or more than three and a half Lake Windermeres.