Water Meter Regulations
National Regulations on Water Take Measuring and Reporting
New national regulations on the measuring and reporting of water takes came into effect in November 2010. Marlborough District Council must implement and monitor these regulations.
Who the regulations apply to
The regulations do not apply to you if you:
- Do not require a resource consent to take water, ie; for domestic water takes or stock drinking water
- Hold a permit for a water take of less than five litres per second
If you hold a resource consent (water permit) to take freshwater at a rate of five litres per second or more, then the regulation will apply to you .
If the regulations apply to you and your consent was granted on or after 10 November 2010, you need to comply with the regulations straight away.
If the regulations apply to you and your consent was granted before 10 November 2010, you have between two and six years to comply, depending on the size of your water take.
- 20 litres per second or more: by 10 November 2012
- 10 litres per second up to 20 litres per second: by 10 November 2014
- 5 litres per second up to 10 litres per second: by 10 November 2016.
What you need to do
If the regulations apply to you, you must install an accurate water measuring device (meter). You will periodically have to maintain your meter and have it tested for accuracy. It must be:
- Suitable for the quality of the water it is measuring (eg; it is suitable for the sediment content of your water)
- Sealed and tamper-proof
- Installed where your water is taken from, unless written approval has been given to site it elsewhere
- Accurate to within plus or minus five per cent for water taken by a full (pressurised) pipe, or plus or minus 10 per cent for water taken by open channels or partially full pipes
- Verified by a qualified person
- Able to provide data electronically (ie; be able to have a data logger fitted to it)
When keeping records, you must:
- Take continuous measurements
- Keep daily records (or weekly, by arrangement) of cubic metres taken. If no water is taken, you must record this as 0
- Keep your records in an auditable form.
These are national requirements; individual resource consents may also include other measuring or reporting requirements as set by Marlborough District Council at the time the consent is granted.
Go to the Resource Management (Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes) Regulations 2010 page
Accreditation for Water Meter Installation and Verification
The Irrigation New Zealand Water Measurement and Reporting Industry Accreditation Programme ensures that its accredited service providers can deliver services that comply with the new regulations.
You will need to use one of these accredited service providers when you have work done on your meter. The benefit of this is that you will have the assurance of knowing that the work done will comply with the new regulations.
The Water Measurement section on Irrigation New Zealand's website has more information on the programme.
Service providers will be accredited in four areas. Nationwide lists of accredited providers for each area of service can also be found on the Irrigation New Zealand website.
Go to the Irrigation New Zealand website
More information
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has published a Measuring and Reporting Water Takes brochure that provides a quick introduction to the regulations.
Go to the Ministry for the Environment website
If you need more information or want to discuss how these requirements will apply to you, please contact us on Ph: 03 520 7400.
