West Country Leak Detection
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Water leak detection across Cornwall

Leak detection across Cornwall finds hidden leaks on household pipes, central heating and supply pipes, from Bude and Launceston to Truro, Falmouth and Penzance. West Country Leak Detection covers 45 districts across mainland Cornwall.

Find your town

A leak where the supply pipe passes through an old solid wallA section through the front wall of an older cottage. The supply pipe rises from the ground and passes through the thick wall into the house, and water is shown escaping where it passes through, spreading damp into the wall.Solid wallSupply pipeA leak where the supply pipe passes through an old solid wallA section through the front wall of an older cottage. The supply pipe rises from the ground and passes through the thick wall into the house, and water is shown escaping where it passes through, spreading damp into the wall.Solid wallSupply pipe
Diagram: an older cottage with a leak where the supply pipe passes through its solid wall.
Properties built before 1900
25.0%
Against 14.9% for England
VOA, 31 March 2026
Properties built before 1919
27.3%
VOA, 31 March 2026
Households in detached houses
37.2%
Census 2021

Source: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021, licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties, 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Which Cornish towns and districts fall within the service area?

The Cornish towns within the service area run from Bude and Launceston to Truro, Newquay, Falmouth, Camborne, Redruth, Penzance, St Ives, St Austell, Bodmin, Liskeard and Saltash, across 45 mainland districts in the TR, PL and EX areas.

Bude
EX23
Torpoint
PL10, PL11
Saltash
PL12
Looe
PL13
Liskeard
PL14
Launceston
PL15
Callington
PL17
Calstock, Gunnislake
PL18
Lostwithiel
PL22
Fowey
PL23
Par
PL24
St Austell
PL25, PL26
Wadebridge
PL27
Padstow
PL28
Port Isaac
PL29
Bodmin
PL30, PL31
Camelford
PL32
Delabole
PL33
Tintagel
PL34
Boscastle
PL35
Truro
TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4
St Agnes
TR5
Perranporth
TR6
Newquay
TR7, TR8
St Columb
TR9
Penryn
TR10
Falmouth
TR11
Helston
TR12, TR13
Camborne
TR14
Redruth
TR15, TR16
Marazion
TR17
Penzance
TR18, TR19, TR20
St Ives
TR26
Hayle
TR27

Each post town above carries its own district codes, so a postcode's first half is enough to find your row. The same codes, set out by postcode area, are in the index of every postcode district covered.

Which hidden leaks does a Cornwall investigation look for?

A Cornwall investigation sets out to find four kinds of hidden leak, on household water pipes, on a heating system, on the buried supply pipe or behind an insurance claim.

Together they follow water through a Cornish home's pipes, from the radiators to the pipe buried under the garden. West Country Leak Detection works on that pipework and nothing else, so roofs, drains and gas sit outside it.

  • Water leak detection

    Brown stains or damp patches on walls and ceilings are usually the first signs of a leak you will see, according to Aviva.

    Water leak detection for pipes in walls, floors and ceilings

    Pipe
    Hot and cold water pipework and fittings inside the property
    What points to it
    Damp patches or stains, peeling paint or bubbling wallpaper, a musty smell, running water with every tap off
    Methods
    Acoustic listening, thermal imaging on hot pipes, moisture mapping, pressure testing and tracer gas

  • Central heating leak detection

    Worcester Bosch's checks for a system that keeps losing pressure run from joints and radiator valves you can see to pipework under the floor.

    Central heating leak detection

    Pipe
    The sealed heating circuit: radiators and their valves, flow and return pipes, underfloor heating loops
    What points to it
    A boiler gauge that keeps falling below 1 bar, damp spots or rust marks around radiators, a wet patch around underfloor heating
    Methods
    Pressure testing, loop by loop for underfloor heating, then thermal imaging or tracer gas

  • Underground water leak detection

    A house set back from the lane can have a supply pipe that crosses other people's land and is still the owner's to look after.

    Underground water leak detection

    Pipe
    The supply pipe buried between the property boundary and the house
    What points to it
    A meter dial still moving with the internal stop tap closed, an unexplained rise in a metered bill, wet ground or lush grass outside
    Methods
    Acoustic listening along the pipe's route, and tracer gas where the leak is quiet

  • Trace and access

    MoneySuperMarket says an insurer pays only for costs tied directly to finding the leak, so an exact record of where it was matters.

    Trace and access for an escape of water claim

    Pipe
    Water pipes, the central heating or the buried supply pipe, wherever the escaping water starts
    What points to it
    A home insurer asking for the leak's source to be traced before the claim proceeds
    Methods
    The method that suits the pipe, with the leak's position, the access needed, photographs and the cause where known recorded

Which pipe does South West Water look after in Cornwall, and which is yours?

Across Cornwall, South West Water is responsible for the main, the pipe to the boundary of the street the main is laid in, together with the external stop tap and meter, while the owner is responsible for the supply pipe from there to the house, however long it is.

A long supply pipe across other landThe water main runs under the lane, and South West Water's pipe stops at the boundary of the street. From there a long supply pipe crosses a neighbour's field to a house set far back, and the homeowner is responsible for all of it.South WestWaterHomeowner: all of itNeighbour's fieldA long supply pipe across other landThe water main runs under the lane, and South West Water's pipe stops at the boundary of the street. From there a long supply pipe crosses a neighbour's field to a house set far back, and the homeowner is responsible for all of it.South West WaterHomeowner: all of itNeighbour's field
Diagram: a house set back from the lane, whose owner is responsible for the whole of a long supply pipe across other land.

Rural lanes bring a rule of their own. Where the main is not laid in the road outside, South West Water extends the boundary of the street by 18 metres from the centre of the road; where the main lies further off, serves one property and runs through surrounding land, the company owns 1 metre of the service pipe from the main.

Everything beyond that is the owner's, and South West Water lists what that involves: repairing any leak, replacing lead or worn pipework, agreeing the cost with anyone who shares the pipe, and arranging access to other people's property when a repair needs it. A long pipe across a neighbour's field makes the last of those the hardest, which is why its leak is worth pinning down before any plaster or paving has to be broken.

South West Water's help for underground leaks begins with a free search lasting no more than half an hour, followed by advice on what to do. The water company provides that half hour itself, and it is not a service of West Country Leak Detection. Repair inside 30 days of South West Water contacting you and a leak allowance can reduce the bill for the water lost.

How does the age of Cornwall's housing affect a leak search?

The age of Cornwall's housing affects a leak search because a quarter of properties (25.0%) date from before 1900, compared with 14.9% for England, and in old solid walls a moisture meter can compare one patch with another but cannot say how much water the wall holds.

That limit comes from tests Historic England commissioned from Oxford University: moisture meters calibrated for timber proved unreliable on stone, brick and plaster, salts and metal near the surface affected every meter tested, and the meters were best used for comparison. A moisture map of a Cornish cottage wall therefore shows where it is wetter, and the search narrows from there before plaster or paving is broken.

Pipes in older houses can be old too. South West Water says lead pipes were often used before the 1970s, and that in a home built before 1970 the lead might still be there, or copper or plastic might have taken its place. Detached houses are common, home to 37.2% of Cornish households (Census 2021).

Some homes sit outside the water company altogether. The Drinking Water Inspectorate defines a private water supply as any supply not provided by a water company where the water is intended for human consumption. Because no water company supplies such a home, South West Water's pipe rules and help on this page do not reach it.

Which reservoirs supply Cornwall's taps?

Colliford Reservoir, South West Water's second largest, supplies most of Cornwall together with local reservoirs such as Siblyback and Stithians, two groundwater-fed lakes and river intakes including the River Fowey.

South West Water also names De Lank and the River Cober among the zone's abstractions, and it can top up Colliford's storage by pumping water in from the Fowey. The north-east of the county is different: Bude and its neighbours fall in the Roadford zone instead.

The water is soft, in South West Water's postcode search, at both Truro (TR1 3AY) and Falmouth (TR11 3QA).

How do you report a leak to South West Water in Cornwall?

Report a leak anywhere in mainland Cornwall on South West Water's Leaks page.

Speed counts once a leak on the owner's side is known. If a supply pipe leak is not fixed in the time allowed, Ofwat says, the water company can carry out the work and pass the cost on to the owner. Finding that leak, on a long pipe or a short one, is what West Country Leak Detection does across Cornwall.