Water meters – are they a sensible option?

Kāpiti Coast District Council’s programme of leak detection throughout the district has been effective at finding many leaks and water meters would quickly identify a whole lot more, Councillor Ross Church said today.

“This Council is concerned about the high level of water loss and we want to find effective ways to minimise that.  Water meters are one possible solution and we want to ensure all possible solutions are properly explored and debated before we make final decisions.”

The level of loss of water on both public and private land (estimated at 5,200 cubic metres per day in the Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati area) must be stopped.

The 30,000 litre-a-day leak Council found recently on a private property was only identified after considerable time, work, and analysis of night time flows and other information in order to pinpoint the property involved. If a water meter had been installed on the property, the leak would have been detected within days of it starting.

“The installation of water meters would provide us with detailed information about what amounts of water are being consumed, and where. If there are gaps between supply and use, then we will have a much better idea about water leaks and water loss,” Councillor Church said.

Water loss is where sizeable amounts of water are unaccounted for. This could be through unofficial connections or through extraordinary users who are not yet on our radar.

“Home owners have a responsibility to maintain their own pipe work. Meters will help identify whether there is a leak on a property so remedial action can be taken to save water and avoid substantial bills.

“Many councils have a policy that if a high water bill is caused by a leak in the system the owner didn’t know about, then a credit will be issued if the leak is promptly repaired. It is likely that your council will adopt a similar policy for residences.  We already have a similar policy in place for commercial water by meter users,” Councillor Church said.

“This is about finding and stopping leaks of precious water”.