WCC are currently consulting on how water services are delivered for our city in the future. Council are seeking feedback on three options:

• Establish a new multi council water services organisation (with Upper Hutt, Hutt City, Porirua City and Greater Wellington Regional Councils)
• Establish a WCC sole ownership water services organisation
• Continue with the existing arrangements i.e. Wellington Water providing management services to WCC

Each of the three options involves the implementation of water meters. This information page has been developed to let you know what’s happening with water meters and how they can be invaluable in protecting our water supplies.

Water meters are devices that measure the volume of water flowing to a property. Usually, Water meters are located in the toby box outside a property. They are typically owned and maintained by the water supplier.

Water meters are invaluable in helping to identify leaks, which in turn can save money and conserves our precious water supply.

Extracting, treating and delivering water to your home, is expensive. Your water comes from Upper and Lower Hutt and is often pumped over 10km before reaching your home. This requires large expensive pumps that use a lot of electricity. Reducing water demand results in:

• lower costs to the community, as less water requires treating and pumping.
• less water to be treated, which saves money, and has a big impact longer term on how much money needs to be spent on new treatment plants, pipes and reservoirs.

This adds up to big savings for the whole community.

Councils typically approve the introduction of water meters and volumetric charging to:

• help conserve water (e.g. through leak identification)
• avoid breaching resource consents
• avoid unnecessary investment in water supply infrastructure
• achieve a greater equity in what people pay for water services.

Council has committed to exploring water meters alongside our fellow metro councils i.e. Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Porirua. This commitment was included in the 2024-2034 Long-term plan and includes:

• $2.4m to explore the feasibility of water meters and prepare a regional business case that covers Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Porirua and Wellington City. Wellington Water is leading this project for the four metro councils.
• $143m to deliver water meters. This funding has been earmarked for water meters subject to a decision being made to proceed following engagement and consultation with the community.

No decisions on water meters will be made without sufficient information being provided to Council in the form of a viable business case. Currently the water meter business case is due to be presented to Council later this year. Consultation on water meters will be considered as part of the business case discussions.