Thames Water has hit back at claims by the Liberal Democrats that the company is failing to manage its water supply effectively.

The Oxford Mail reported on Thursday that delegates at the annual conference in Brighton had criticised the company for letting millions of litres leak from pipes every day.

The conference passed a motion demanding compulsory metering to tackle water shortages and high bill charges, and said failing suppliers should be converted into not-for-profit companies.

Thames Water spokesman Hilary Bennett refuted the claims that the company was failing. She said: "Thames Water has a massive programme of investment targeted on upgrading our infrastructure.

"This includes £500,000 spent every day on tackling leaks. Leakage in the Oxford area has been more than halved in the last three years.

"We have reduced it by 3.8 million litres per day, which is enough to supply over 20,000 people.

"Work was completed recently to replace over a kilometre of pipework in Stokenchurch, just down the M40 from Oxford. We are also about to start similar work in the villages of Tiddington and Shabbington, near Thame."

The company says it has just begun work on a £50m scheme to boost water supplies in the Oxford and Didcot areas.

This will provide enough extra water to supply 240,000 homes in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

Work should be completed next month on a £5m project to bring in more water for Oxford, via a new main from Upper Heyford to Woodstock.