Council contractors will soon start installing smart water meters at every property in Twizel, including businesses. Where a property already has a water meter it will be replaced with one of the new ones.
Why are we doing this?
Twizel has the highest consumption of water in Mackenzie. Drinking-quality treated water is expensive for Council to produce, and it is important that we do not let it leak out of pipes or valves and go to waste. We know the quantity of water that is leaving the treatment plant. By installing meters at the point of consumption we can calculate our real water loss between the plant and the consumer and find the places where we are losing water. By identifying areas of leaks and other losses we can target our repair work.
The meters will also let us know where a property has a potential leak so that we can alert the home owner that there may be a problem. This could mean we can prevent unexpected large bills from undetected leaks etc. This can be particularly useful for holiday home owners.
Does this mean that water will cost more?
No, there is no intention to change the amount we charge for water. Currently, the first 700m3 are paid for by your water rate. That will remain unchanged. Anything over 700m3 currently incurs a charge, and this extra will continued to be billed.
What you can expect
The meters will be installed at the toby. (The toby is the water shut-off valve, generally located at the boundary of the property, that sits between the council water main and your private water pipe.) This means that our contractors will need to access the property around the toby. We expect that some will be easy to do. However, we also know that there are some older tobys which need to be replaced as part of this work. Where our contractors do need to replace your toby there will be no charge to the home owner.
Most tobys are already situated at the property boundary on the road reserve. If a toby is somewhere else, where we can, we will also move it to the road reserve. Where this is not possible, it will remain inside the property.
When will this happen?
Installation will start in October/November. Start date is still to be confirmed and we will advertise the date when before work starts. It is important to note also that no installation work will take place over Christmas/New Year peak holiday period.
How will the meters work?
The meter will log the flow of water through meter and will send that information via the cell network to Council’s systems in the office every day.
If you are a Twizel property owner, resident, or business, and you would like to receive notifications about this work directly to your inbox, we are establishing a confidential email list solely for these water projects in Twizel. Please email communications@mackenzie.govt.nz and let us know if you want information about the ring main project, or the smart meter project, or both.