Smart Water Meters Trial

Smart water meters were installed at Glenorchy properties in 2021, expanding into Luggate in April 2022, and Hāwea in late 2024.

The trial involving access to an online water usage dashboard ends on Sunday 31 August. From that date onwards, households will not be able to access their property’s dashboard.

Your water usage data is collected by the smart water meter installed on your water toby.

Water usage data is sent securely from each meter over the cellular network to online servers, where it is then tagged to a property ID. The data is then processed and passed on to various systems that analyse it for potential problems like leaks or meter issues.

QLDC uses water usage data as part of its smart water meter trial to help find and fix leaks faster.

We can also share the water usage data of a property with people living in that household, provided they’re interested in seeing how much water they’re using. This data is provided in an online dashboard that someone living in a household can register for and log into.

The information collected from our trial does not include your personal information. It tells us about the amount of water consumed at a household and when that water is being consumed.

For households taking part in the second phase of the trial, you’re invited to register by sharing your name, contact details and the address at which you live so we can provide you with your very own online dashboard to see your water usage.

In the event any data collected from this trial constitutes personal information, QLDC will adhere to our Privacy Policy which sets out how and why QLDC collects and stores personal information, what we will use it for and with whom we can share it.

Find out more about our Privacy Policy here: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/your-council/council-documents/policies/privacy-policy/. 

If the pilot is successful, smart meters could be rolled out more widely across the district. However, any decision to roll out smart water meters across the district will require a wider conversation with the community. The lessons from the trial will provide a basis of these conversations.

QLDC is not currently looking to review how water services are charged.

The purpose of this pilot is to collect information around typical water usage in our district, to educate those using the water around their usage, identify leaks, and better understand the technology on offer. QLDC can use this information to inform our future consultations on water charges.

Pressure and acoustic sensors are installed in the water infrastructure and connected to an alert system which has data analysis integrations for the smart water meters. For example, if a property has a stable water flow during some period of time that could indicate that there’s a potential water leak and the system will send an alarm. This helps our maintenance and operations team to track down a potential water leak in the system.