Part of NPDC’s water conservation programme includes adding water meters to all residential homes in New Plymouth District.
Our drinking water usage is high. On average we use 304 litres per person per day – which is significantly more water than we need. When we compare ourselves to other similar districts we see our residential water consumption is 60% higher.
Water meters encourage a responsible approach toward water use as they are transparent way for people to see how much drinking water they use and to help identify practical ways to save water.
Reducing the demand for drinking water lessens the need for money to be spent on treatment plants, pipes and reservoirs, meaning that as the level of water conservation increases the cost in water infrastructure will be less.
Currently there is fixed charge, regardless of the amount of water you use, for your water supply which is paid through your rates bill (totalling $400.60 for 2022/23). With water meters you will pay for the amount of water you use.
Water conservation is the best thing we can do to significantly reduce the effect on the environment and to protect and enhance water sources cultural and community value.
Our contractors are working in the following Water Supply Zones (WSZ). Please note installation dates are indicative and may vary due to weather or contractor delays.
Completed WSZ's: Fernleigh,Carrington and Urenui/Tikorangi - There may be some properties that could be revisited in these areas.
Brooklands WSZ from 06 October 2022 - 27 March 2023:
Currently getting connections meter ready in: Bideford St, Coronation St, Cumberland St, Durham Ave, Junction St, Lambton Tce, Puketotara St, Sycamore St, Tarahua Rd.
Aotea St, Arawa St, Azalea Pl, Ballance St, Bell St, Bideford St, Blenheim Pl, Branch Rd, Bright Way, Broadmore St, Brooklands Rd, Cameron Rd, Carrington St, Coronation Ave, Cracroft St, Cumberland St, Dale St, Durham Ave, Eliot St,Essex St, Euclid St, Evelyn Pl, Fairgray Row, Filis St, Flight Pl, Frank Wilson Tce, Frankley Rd, George St, Gilbert St, Glenpark Ave, Gover St, Hartland Pl, Hawkins St, Hendrie St, Heta Rd, Holly Oak Tce, Holsworthy Rd, Hori St, Huatoki St, Hursthouse St, Juntion Rd & St, Kereru Pl, Kohatu Boulder Way, Kura St, Lambton Tce, Liardet St, List St, London Tce, Mackillop Way, Maranui St, Mill Rd, Newlyn Pl, Norman St, Oriental St, Orite Dr, Parsons St, Penny Ln, Plympton St, Puketotara St, Raleigh St, Rarawa Pl, Rawhiti St, Redcoat Ln, Ridge Ln, Rogan St, Saddle Row, Salcombe Tce, Selwyn St, Shortland St, Struan Ave, Sycamore Gr, Tainui St,Tarahua Rd,Tasman St, Te Arei Rd West, Thames St, Timandra St, Tokomaru St, Torbay St,Turi St, Tyne Pl, Upjohn St, Victoria Rd, Vogue Circle, Wakefield St, Welbourne Tce, Wicksteed St, Wilson Way.
Highlands Park WSZ - from 05 December 2022- 31 May 2023:
Adam Lile Dr, Ainslee St, Anderson Way, Argyle Pl, Ballantrae Pl, Branch Rd, Caledonia Pl, Del Mar Pl, Dunbar Pl, Greenridge Ln, Heta Rd, Highfield Pl, Highlands Pl, Junction Rd, Kapurau Ln, Karina Rd, Kinross Dr, Larsen Pl, Mangorei Rd, Manarau Cres, Montrose Pl, Oakwood Dr, Pentland Pl, Portland Dr, Taylor Pl, Tupare Pl, Tupuhi Pl, Tyne Pl, William St, Winstone Place.
Lower Highlands Park / Merrilands WSZ from 09 Jan - 19 May 2023: currently installing meters in: Chilman St, Paynters Ave, Pukaka Pl, Rimu St, Waiwaka Tce.
Ambury Pl, Awanui St, Baring Tce, Barton St, Boulevard Dr, Brixham Pl, Chilman St, Cumberland St, Devon St East, Elgin Gr, Frank Frethey Pl, Hawea St, Heta Rd, Hunter Pl, John Guthrie Pl, Karaka St, Karina Rd, Kauri St, Kellyville Heights, Kendal Pl, Kennedy Pl, Leatham Av, Lindaver Gr, Lismore St, London Tce, Longview Dr, Mangorei Rd, Margaret Pl, Milne Pl, Miro St, Montana Pl, Nevada Dr, Neve Pl, Northgate, Onslow Pl, Paynters Av, Pukaka St, Rimu St, Riversdale Dr, Sandel Rise, Sequoia Gr, Skeet Pl, Smith Rd, Spencer Pl, Tamati Pl, Te Mara Pl, Te Mete Tce, Te Ngaere Pl, Telford St, Truby King St, Turakina St, Turehu St, Union St, Valintine Pl, Waiwaka Tce, Waiwera Pl, Warangi St.
Fitzroy Residential WSZ - from 03 April - 28 August 2023:
Barriball St, Beach St, Bedford St, Chatswood Gr, Clemow Rd, Clinton St, Constance St, Darrell St, Devon St East, Fitzroy Rd, Hamblyn St, Henui St, Karamu St, Kowhai St, Mahoe St, McLean St, Newton St, Ngaio St, Nobs Line, Normanby St, Northgate, Paynters Ave, Princes St, Puni St, Raiomiti St, Record St, Richmond St, Rifle Range Rd, Ronald St, Rophia St, Sackville St, Seaton St, Strandon Pl, Te Ara o Ngakeiha, Vogel St, Watson St, Weka St, Witako St.
What to expect:
NPDC will undertake these works at no cost to you and in a manner that causes minimal disturbance.
To avoid doubt, nothing changes how you currently pay for your water supply. The exception is extraordinary supplies (like those with swimming pools) which are already required to pay by volume.
We will provide more detail at a later date about water billing.
The information on this dashboard shows indicative water meter installation updates. Please note this map is updated daily, not in real-time.
The terms and conditions of use of the NPDC GIS Viewer incorporate the terms and conditions of use of the NPDC website.
Shared water meter properties are typically those that share a single point of connection.
These properties do not have a dedicated, single Council water point of connection. Instead, like other parts of the property (e.g. joint ownership of underlying land), the water point of connection is shared between neighbours. NPDC does not own, nor have legal access to, the pipes that connect each rateable property to the council’s water point of connection.
The current estimated leakages across New Plymouth District’s network are around five million litres per day (15%-20% of total production).
NPDC is investing $240m over 10 years to Fix the Plumbing, this includes finding and repairing leaks in council-owned assets such as pipes, valves and joints. Property owners are responsible for leaks on their own properties.
Bursts (large breaks) tend to be noticed relatively quickly as they often cause homes and businesses to lose pressure or go without water altogether; however, smaller leaks (cracks and loose fittings) can go unnoticed for long periods of time and could cause damage to your property. Water meters are a good tool to measure how much water is used around the home and help identify the presence of leaks that may not be obvious to the eye.
We have to use less water so there’s enough left in our rivers to keep them healthy as our population grows. They’re proven to cut use where they are installed.
All properties need to be metered so everyone can track how much they’re using. The meters would also indicate if there’s a leak or a backflow problem that needs fixing.
Eventually every home will be charged for the amount of water they use rather than the flat yearly charge they pay now. Households would be given time to track and cut their water use before metered charging begins.
There’s still work to be done before we nail down the costs for households. A key area is how we can support large and low-income households and the vulnerable. The flip-side is that smaller households, such as retirees or those living alone, could have lower costs than they do under the current fees structure.
No, we’d have a standard charge per unit used across the district.
We don’t charge for the water itself, we only cover the cost of treating it to make it safe to drink and paying for the pipes in the ground to deliver it to your homes.
No it is against the law to cut off water supplies for this reason. We’d work with anyone who was in difficulty to arrange a payment plan.
This is something that the landlord and tenant need to discuss and agree on within the tenancy agreement. This has nothing to do with council. More information can be found here .
Properties with swimming pools are already required to be on a water meter with a backflow preventer installed, as required under our bylaw. This is known as an extraordinary supply and should already be charged volumetrically for their water supply.
For most people the meters will be free as NPDC will cover the cost. However, if a property owner currently shares a water supply pipe with other properties and would like to install a dedicated meter for themselves, the property owner will cover that cost.
We’re looking at about $15.5 million to meter the district’s water connections.
Savings would come from delaying other high-cost infrastructure projects due to lower demand.
Yes, but we’re still in the top-third of New Zealand cities for water use, and many European countries have a daily average use that is half of ours. Kiwi cities with some of the lowest daily averages also have water meters.
We’ve recently added two new reservoirs, but we all pay for these and they cost money to maintain too. We can’t keep on building reservoirs if we don’t look at how much we use and do more to save water.
We are, but the Resource Management Act aims to stop overconsumption of natural resources like water. If we applied for a consent to take water from a new source, we'd be more likely to
succeed if we showed we are good managers of the water we’re already using.
This work is always ongoing.
We reckon about two years.
This is something that we would review.
Pool owners should already be on a meter so they’ll be paying for the water they use but we do ask them to consider whether they need to fill their pools.
If you toby is inside your private property, it will be removed and brought outside your boundary onto council land.
No, our water charges only cover the costs of running our water networks. Councils aren’t allowed to create a profit from water.
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Page last updated: 08:27AM Fri 24 March 2023