I would like to thank The Argus and its readers for all you are doing to help us identify and reduce the number of leaks in our huge water mains network.

During the past few months, we have doubled the size of our task force which detects leaks.

This and a number of other initiatives means we now have the lowest level of leakage per property of any of the ten water and sewerage companies in England and Wales.

Last year, we narrowly exceeded the regulator's annual target but continued to meet our three-year rolling target.

We are now well ahead of the regulator's target by some ten per cent and the additional expenditure on improving our performance has been at no cost to our customers.

We are determined to do all we can to swiftly detect and repair leaks and ask readers to continue to help us by calling our dedicated 24-hour leakage line 0800 820999 if they spot a leak.

-Andy Watson, director of operations, Southern Water