"Around three billion litres of water are lost through leaks across hundreds of thousands of miles of water pipe in England and Wales daily, says water industry economic regulator Ofwat.

Engineers have now developed miniature robots to patrol the pipe network, check for faults and prevent leaks.

They say maintaining the network will be "impossible" without robotics.

Water industry body Water UK told BBC News that companies were already "investing billions" in leakage."

Victoria Gill reports for BBC News December 26, 2022. [2]