Gregory Campbell blames a lack of money

Regional development minister, Gregory Campbell is now in charge and he points the finger at a 30-year underspending during the period of direct rule.

"Our leakage record here is worse than it should be. It needs to be better and we are spending money to make sure that it becomes better," he said.

"The reality is that we have had 30 years of under-investment in the water infrastructure and we now have to address that.

"In the next two years my department will spend �8m dealing with leakages, in addition to the �16m which we have already spent in the last three years."

Total replacement

Parts of the system are more than 100 years old and only total replacement would stop some of the leaks.

The Water Service is run as a government agency and the Northern Ireland Assembly has already said it has no plans to privatise it, unlike water services in England and Wales.

The service, which used to be funded by the rate payer, is now funded centrally from taxes.

Ultimately with more than �2bn needed to update the whole system, the price of water to the domestic consumer is bound to rise.