Consumers on the Ranfurly and Naseby water schemes will get more water than the Central Otago District Council had recommended they get.
The Maniototo Community Board yesterday resolved to allocate scheme users 500 units of water per year before excess water fees were charged.
The decision means each property serviced by the schemes will have about 1370 litres of potable water to use each day for the next 12 months, after which the allocation will be reviewed.
Council utility services engineer Nigel Saunders said in a report to the board users should be allocated 365 units of water per year, or 1000 litres per day.
His recommendation was in line with the allocation granted to people on the Patearoa water scheme, as well as others throughout the district.
But at its meeting in Ranfurly yesterday the board heard from disgruntled Ranfurly and Naseby residents unhappy at the notion of having to pay if they used more than 365 units.
As the council was still in the process of installing water meters on every property in the district, board members decided to allow Ranfurly and Naseby scheme users a greater allocation than proposed, until the system was fully operational.
Chairman Richard Smith said until all properties were subject to water meter charging, it would be difficult to know what an appropriate allocation would be before excess charges applied.
As the allocation would be subject to review in 12 months, the board would be safe allocating more than the recommended amount in the interim, he said.
Board members approved Mr Saunders' recommendation for Naseby properties deemed extraordinary to be metered and charged from July 1.
The council deemed all commercial properties as well as those bigger than 1100sq m extraordinary; domestic properties smaller than 1100sq were deemed ordinary.
Ordinary properties would be metered and subject to charges from July 1 next year.
The council's proposed drinking water strategy was aimed at reducing demand for potable water throughout the district by up to 30%, through the implementation of a user-pays system of water metering.
Council assets and contracts manager Murray Washington said continuously high demand for potable water would result in the council having to upgrade its water schemes - which could cost more than $2 million in the Maniototo alone.
People needed to be encouraged to conserve water, and metering had been proven effective, he said.
"The perfect situation would be that no-one gets a bill because everyone's using less than the water allocation. If that happens, the cost of producing that water will go down, and therefore that component of rates will go down," Mr Washington said.
