Water meters report to be deep dived

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is the underlying message from a report on the water meter trial in Methven.

And what comes next will be examined in depth at a council workshop in August.

The Ashburton District Council was presented with the initial results of the water metering pilot trial in Methven on Wednesday, along with a recommendation to re-prioritise the work programme to accelerate pipeline renewals on the town’s water supply.

Mayor Neil Brown moved to leave the item on the table and “pick it back up after we have had a workshop on the report”.

“There is a lot of information in there we would like to get a better understanding on, and we just haven’t got the time today."

Deputy mayor Liz McMillan supported the motion.

“There is a lot of information in there and I think it’s going to be really beneficial to work through it quite slowly and go through everything.”

She also requested the Methven Community Board be invited to the workshop.

Chief executive Hamish Riach said that as the report was presented at an open public meeting, the workshop would also be open to the public.

The council had allocated $1 million for a pilot water meter trial in Methven 2021, which was identified as the scheme with the highest water loss.

After some Covid- related delays in the supply chain, most of the 1213 water meters were installed by the end of 2022.

The trial aimed to analyse the benefits of universal water metering for asset and demand management, without plans for future volumetric charging, in anticipation of a future rollout of meters in Ashburton and Rakaia.

That rollout was not included in the long-term plan as the data from the Methven trial wasn’t available in time.

The report tabled on Wednesday concluded that most water loss in Methven occurs in the public network and highlighted the need for regular leak detection and rep