SOUTHERN Water is recording its lowest leakage figures for four years as the firm braces itself for the driest winter since 1976.

In September, October and November, the company beat the target set by regulator Ofwat by eight million litres of water per day around its 13,600km long network.

The company says it is investing £20 million to fix leaks and is currently losing 85 million litres a day.

Ofwat estimates that 96 million litres of water a day were leaking from Southern Water pipes in 2010/11.

Southern Water was last year ordered by Ofwat to give customers £5m back for missing its leakage targets for the second year running.

It will be taken into account when Ofwat decides how much the firm can charge over the five years from 2015.

Since April, the firm has repaired nearly 19,600 leaks, compared to 14,932 last year – a 31 per cent increase. Southern Water said it was on track to beat last year’s record of 22,000 repairs.

Water strategy manager Meyrick Gough said: “The last three winters have been severe and put huge strain on our network.

“However, we have still the lowest leakage level of all water and sewerage companies in the South East and we are doing all we can to keep this figure as low as possible.”