Water Meters

Hauraki District Council water meters are read approximately every six months by our meter readers and from these readings we produce your account.

Locating your water meter

Your meter is usually located close to your property boundary, near the road. The blue box in the ground, often has the word "water" written on the lid.

How to Read Your Water Meter

Most of the water meters used in the Hauraki district are a digital metric type. The display panel has both black and red figures.

The display panel on your water meter should look similar to one of these.

The black on white figures represent cubic metres (m3) or thousands of litres. For our readings of your consumption we only read these figures. e.g. in this case 3746 m 3

The figures in red are parts of cubic metres. They are useful to assess the amount of water used over a short period of time, for example if you are checking for leakage overnight.

Some meters have three red digits and some have four. If your meter has four red digits the best thing to do is ignore the last one (in this case the 9). This makes the maths easier. In this example the reading is 3746.285m3 or 3,746,285 litres.

If you cannot understand your water meter please contact us for assistance.

Overnight Leakage Test

If you read your water meter last thing at night and then first thing in the morning you can calculate how much water is being lost through leakage. Remember not to use any water during the night.

Example

Early Morning Reading 7.00 am

Previous Night Reading 10.00 pm

Remember, it’s easier to ignore the last digit.

Subtract the previous night's reading from the morning reading.

3746.310 - 3746.285 = 0.025m3 (cubic metres) or 25 litres.

This shows the volume of water 'lost' in the nine hours overnight.

Note: When doing this test you will need to check with other occupants as to whether they used any water overnight, for example having a drink of water or flushing the toilet. If they did, try again the next night.

Checking for leaks

If you lose more than one (1) litre per hour, you should check for dripping taps, faulty toilet cisterns or other forms of leakage. Any more than ten (10) litres lost per hour is very significant and should definitely be investigated.

Businesses can do the same thing over the weekend if nobody is using the premises.

What to Do With Leaks?

If you find you have a leak using the overnight leakage test it means the leak is within your own plumbing system. This could be from the meter to the house or within the house. It is your responsibility to have this leak repaired. If you need assistance you should contact your plumber.

If you discover a leak on the roadside of your meter, or in the meter box, whether it is an emergency or not please call us. Our 24 hour, 7 day service number is: (07) 862 8609 or 0800 734 834 (from within the district).

For further information contact:

Hauraki District Council
(07) 862 8609 or
0800 734 834 (from within the district)

Water leak remission

If you get a high water invoice from an unexpected water leak you may be eligible for a remission in part of your invoice.

This can be applied for online or contact our water rates department.

Information required to complete this application includes:

Meter numbers for which remission is sought.
Meter readings from date leak was found.
Meter readings from date leak was fixed.
Meter readings from a date a minimum of 2 weeks after leak was fixed.