Water Meters
Ngā Ine Wai
Masterton District Council has deferred the start of charging for water using water meters, originally scheduled to begin on 1 July 2025.
This follows analysis of monthly usage data collected from meters which highlighted some cases of exceptionally high usage. It is not clear if this is the result of leaks or genuine usage.
Allowing more time to remedy leaks will enable property owners to get a more accurate view of their usage. Following potential significant leaks being fixed, the Council will need to recalculate the revenue required to cover the costs of supplying water to the community based on the revised use data.
The Council is working on material to help you understand how your meter works, and to identify potential leaks, and excessive volumes passing through the meter. We'll be writing to ratepayers with properties where water consumption seems unusually high and building up a toolkit of ways to reduce water consumption.
We'll be adding more information to this page in the coming months.
Water meter installation
Water meters have been installed in about 91 per cent Masterton urban residential properties. They help to reduce consumption, identify leaks, and give us better information about water use.
Water is a precious resource. The health of our river is very important and water meters help us manage and measure our water use.
Most water meters are installed where water supplies for individual properties leave the council water main – under the blue panels on roadsides and footpaths.
There are currently around 400 properties sharing water meters. In these cases, the Council will talk directly to property owners to discuss metering options.
Water meters were first raised as part of the 2015 Long-Term Plan process. In the Long Term Plan consultation in 2018, 56 per cent of respondents supported installing water meters on all residential properties that are connected to the urban water supply. Based on results in other districts, installing water meters could reduce water loss from leaks by up to 30 per cent, and reduce demand by 20 per cent.
How to check your meter
To check your meter is working, open the lid of the blue box on the street and flip up the lid on top of the meter. You’ll see a small screen with a row of numbers like the mileage in your car. The number on the far right-hand side represents one litre of water.
If you have turned off all taps on your property (including outside taps), and the numbers on the meter are still moving you may be on a shared supply (with more than one property receiving water from that meter) or you may have a leak. The first thing to do is give us a call so we can make sure the meter is working properly.
