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Rotorua Lakes Council will close midday Friday 20 Dec 2024 and reopen Monday 6 Jan 2025. Building services & LIMs are on hold until 10 Jan 2025. Visit our Property & Building section for more information.

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Water Metering

A water meter is a device installed on a water connection or pipe to measure the quantity of water flowing through.

Why meters are used

On all of Rotorua Lakes Council's water supplies, bulk meters constantly record the amount of water abstracted (taken from the water sources). The information gathered from these meters:

  • Helps us to monitor our supplies
  • Helps us to identify any pipework leaks
  • Is used to check water pump performance and power efficiency
  • Is used to confirm that we are not exceeding the maximum water abstraction levels set by regional councils.

Council's metering policy

Council's policy is to meter all extraordinary (non-domestic) and extra-territorial water connections in the urban, Central Eastern and Ngongotaha supplies. Council has no future plans to meter domestic consumers in the Rotorua urban area.

Rural supply water connections are all metered.

Read more about how water usage is charged

How to read a water meter

  • A meter has a dial similar to the odometer of a car and measures volume in cubic metres
  • Most dials have a series of black and red numbers
  • The black numbers are whole cubic metres; these are recorded by the meter reader
  • The red numbers indicate parts of a cubic metre; there may be up to 4 red numbers.

Checking for a water leak

If your water bill is higher than usual, turn off your taps and check your meter:

  1. Are the numbers on the dial spinning? If so, water is flowing somewhere.
  2. Which side of the meter is the leak on?
    • On your property: call a plumber.
    • On Council's side (from the road to the meter): Contact us and we will get it fixed for free.

Other things to check

  • Leaky taps, both inside and outside
  • Leaks in your hot water cylinder, including the outlet pipe
  • Any wet or unusually green patches of lawn
  • Soft or wet spots in driveways and paths
  • Recently increased water use, like sprinklers or hoses
  • Are there more people in the house?
  • Farms: check stock water troughs are working correctly
  • Businesses: Check urinals are working properly and not running constantly
  • Rental properties: are there new tenants?
Still unsure? Do an overnight leakage test
  1. Read your water meter at night
  2. Read it again in the morning
  3. Subtract the night reading from the morning to calculate how much water is leaking.

More than one litre per hour: check the list above.

More than 10 litres per hour: This is a significant leak - contact a plumber immediately.

If you find a leak between the meter and the road, contact Council on 07 348 4199 or via the form below as soon as possible.

Report a water leak to Council

Water charge remission requests

To ask for your water or excess wastewater bill to be reassessed after a water leak, use the form below.

Water Consumption Charges Remission Request - (PDF, 931KB)
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