Shared water meter system for some Renwick and Havelock properties

Council this morning agreed to move away from installing water meters on all Renwick and Havelock properties, unless the property owner is being disadvantaged.

Council’s Operations and Maintenance Engineer, Stephen Rooney said in cases where multiple properties stem off a main water meter, attached to a main water pipe, water connections can be difficult to find inside some properties. Council also requires an access agreement with homeowners to install meters on individual properties.

“The alternative, agreed to at today’s Council meeting, will see a main water meter installed on the street outside a property. A check meter will be made available to property owners, at no additional cost, if they are likely to exceed the base rate allowance, and their water comes from a shared connection. This will enable each property owner to gauge and manage their own water use,” Stephen said.

“Of the 950 properties in Renwick, 90 are on 30 shared connections. Many of these are units or townhouses which will probably not exceed the 200 cubic metre (200,000 litre) base charge. The same goes for Havelock where, out of a total of 350 properties, 40 are on 20 shared connections.

“Council will work with Renwick and Havelock property owners to ensure they all have the opportunity to discuss the best option for their property. A letter to each property owner will explain the options available and outline the access agreement requirements should the property owner decide a check meter is best for them,” he said.

Any check meter must be able to be installed practically and economically. The property owner will also be required to give Council permission to install, maintain and read the meter.

Fulton Hogan was awarded the contract to install the water meter boxes and will begin work in the next few weeks. The work is expected to take around nine months to complete. Once the meter box and manifold installation has been carried out, the main meters will be installed, along with the check meters, if requested by property owners.

Council is also considering a change to when it will begin billing water users for their water. It is now likely that Renwick and Havelock residents won’t be billed for their water use until 2021.

For further information please visit: www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/utilities/water-supplies/domestic-water-metering-in-havelock-and-renwick

ENDS

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