A trial of smart water meters in Kurow has been shelved by councillors in light of bigger plans to rejoin the Southern Waters partnership.
Waitaki district councillors at last week’s assets and infrastructure committee unanimously approved what was described as the ‘‘do nothing’’ option — to defer future decisions on smart metering and a potential trial to the joint-council Southern Waters entity, which the Waitaki District Council was recently admitted to following votes by other district councils.
Deferring the decision had been recommended by officers due to saving ‘‘considerable staff time’’ and the $100,000 funding required for the three-month Kurow trial, as well as aligning metering rollouts and ensuring standard metering and systems across districts through joint procurement.
‘‘High’’ water loss estimates across the Waitaki network ranged from 31% up to 49%, the assets and infrastructure committee heard, but due to a lack of customer metering across the district, estimations were an ‘‘imprecise science’’.
Kurow was picked for a potential smart meter trial as it was the only town across the local network which was already fully metered.
Other districts across New Zealand had shown ‘‘significant’’ reductions in average and peak water use by metering their network, according to a document prepared for last week’s meeting.
The report to the committee said: ‘‘Kurow was recommended as a trial location due to its existing fully metered network and its suitability as a controlled environment for testing smart metering technology.’’
‘‘However, with changes to the direction of water service delivery in the district, moving ahead with a smart metering trial in Kurow may be untimely at this point.’’
Asset planning manager Paul Hayes provided an update at the meeting and said it was still ‘‘very early days’’ regarding Southern Waters, but he stressed that ‘‘water savings through metering are well documented’’ and added that there were benefits when it came to ‘‘economies of scale’’ by joining forces with other district councils.
Mr Hayes said feedback on the proposed trial had been useful but ‘‘what’s changed is our direction with going with Southern Waters’’.
‘‘We have come to the conclusion that the wisest use of our time and energy at the moment is to defer any decision on smart metering to Southern Waters,’’ he said.
Waitaki District Mayor Mel Tavendale also cautioned councillors not to get ahead of themselves when it came to discussions, given an extraordinary general meeting was due to be held this week formalising Waitaki District Council’s re-entry into Southern Waters.
charley-kai john@odt.co.nz
