Immersion lithography apparatus with damage control system

A lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table to hold a substrate; a substrate table position measurement system to measure a position quantity of the substrate table, a projection system to project a patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, a fluid supply system (LS) to supply an immersion fluid (IML) in a space between a downstream lens of the projection system and the substrate (W) and a leakage detection system (LDC) to detect leakage of the immersion fluid from the fluid supply system, the leakage detection system being constructed to detect leakage by measuring an electrical capacitance between two mutually isolated electrial conductors (COND1,COND2).