Water allocation notice – additional information

In the most recent rates notice, included was a letter for ratepayers that are connected to the water supply outlining their past four water meter readings. This is to support the change to the water annual allocation that took effect on 1 July 2024 – the new annual allocation is 250m3 instead of 350m3. You can read more about this here.

For most properties, each reading will be about 12 months apart however there are some exceptions – these include readings taken for property sales, high water use reading, water waivers, meter replacements or any corrections done to readings. Depending on the usage of your water meter, and that it might vary year to year, the information in your table might look at bit unclear, so please contact us if you have any questions about your meter readings – water@swdc.govt.nz

Example table
The property below used 277m3 between 30/06/23 and 30/06/24. While this usage is within the allocation for that year, going forward if they use a similar amount (from 1 July 2024), they would pay $2.50 per m3 used above 250m3. So this owner would be invoiced $67.50 (27 additional units x $2.50) at the end of the financial year.

You can work out your average water use by dividing the ‘Units (m3) used since previous reading’ column by the ‘Days since previous reading‘ column. In this case, 277/366 = 0.76m3 average daily use.

1 cubic metre (m³ ) = 1000 litres.  
This is equivalent to 28 showers, or 111 toilet flushes or 14 loads of laundry.   

Leaks on your property
Excess water charges may indicate that you have a leak on your property. These charges may get waived if you repair the leak. Find out more.

Reading your water meter
Learning to read your water meter can help you keen track of your usage throughout the year. Find out more.

Water conservation
Small changes in water usage habits can make a large difference over time. Read about tips and tricks to save water at home.