Yorkshire Water has successfully reduced leakage by over 40% in the last few years. This has allowed the company to successfully maintain supplies to its 4.5 million customers with no restrictions in 2003, one of the driest years on record. This paper explains how Yorkshire Water has achieved this leakage reduction and demonstrated why the decision to reduce leakage, rather than develop a new resource was taken. Topics discussed include: distribution management area; calculating leakage in the United Kingdom; leakage reduction in Yorkshire; how the reduction was achieved; and, the economic level of leakage.