More awareness of water cost with metering

Water metering in Central Otago, despite being controversial, seems to have made people more aware of the cost of water.

Metering and volumetric charging for water came into effect in most main Central Otago towns on July 1, 2012, and council figures show falling use in some areas.

Clyde town water supply users, for example, have used less than half the amount of water so far in the 2013-14 financial year (April 1 to March 31) than they did in the entire 2010-11 year.

Although an average summer with some rain and cool temperatures could be partly the reason,

people were clearly making choices about when to use water, Central Otago District Council water services manager Russell Bond said.

''Definitely, people are more aware of the value of water and are choosing when to irrigate, and some people are being more selective as to where to irrigate.

''Historically, water demand was quite susceptible to how hot the day was. It used to jump up quite quickly ... Now, those jumps are not quite so high. There's not a lot of reactive water use just `because it's hot'.''

Peak figures were usually recorded in summer, when there were a lot of extra people in town, the weather was warmer or there was a lot of irrigation, he said. Figures were determined by taking a town's daily water usage and dividing it by the number of connections and included irrigation of council-owned spaces such as recreation reserves.

While much more information on water use was to be collected, an emerging trend was that use in the main centres of Alexandra, Cromwell and Clyde had become more stable over the course of a year and there was no longer such a stark contrast between winter and summer use, he said. However, the council still needed to cover the costs of supply, and water rates had had to be re-estimated, he said.

Council corporate services manager Susan Finlay told the Vincent Community Board this week water meter income was a ''major risk'' for all community boards.

In the Vincent ward, ratepayers on town water supply face an increase in their annual water rates - the annual charge, not the volumetric charge - to cover the cost of supply.

For those in Clyde, it may jump to about $120, up from $45.10.

Those in Alexandra and Omakau could face increases of about $70 from $249.05 and $739.10 respectively.

Although water rates are set to rise, a 2.2% decrease in rates has been estimated for the Vincent ward, though that could change before the council's annual plan is adopted.

A report to the Maniototo Community Board, which meets today, and another to the Cromwell Community Board, which meets next week, says water meter income in those wards was on budget.

Mr Bond said Maniototo water schemes were typically ''consistent'' throughout the year and did not have such a great difference between summer and winter seasons as those in Alexandra, Clyde and Cromwell.

Water use was always expected to fall with the introduction of water meters, but what the council was seeing now could be skewed by the cool weather, he said.

In other towns, Tauranga and parts of the Waikato, for example, water consumption typically dropped after the introduction of water meters and then climbed slightly as people got used to it.

''But I think we're affected by the weather a lot more than other places,'' he said.

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