Welcome to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's website pages for water metering and water use information.
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New government regulations came into effect on 10 November 2010 requiring consented water takes of 5l/s or greater to be measured with an accuracy of /- 5%.
If the regulations apply to you and your consent was granted before 10 November 2010, the deadline for compliance depends on your consented rate of take:
- 20 litres per second or more; no later than 10 November 2012
- 10 litres per second up to 20 litres per second: no later than 10 November 2014
- 5 litres per second up to 10 litres per second: no later than 10 November 2016
For further information on the new regulations please click here (link to New Government Regulations for Measuring and Reporting Water Takes)
In partnership with Regional Councils and industry bodies the Ministry for the Environment and Irrigation New Zealand have developed The Water Measurement and Reporting Industry Accreditation Program to give permit holders greater certainty that service providers will deliver services that comply with the regulations.
More information on the Industry Accreditation program can be found on Irrigation New Zealand’s website.
Prequalification documents have been received from local contractors and installers of irrigation equipment wanting to become a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Approved Installer of water meters.
The contractors who have successfully become Approved Installers are:
- Bay Irrigation - 06 8795577
- Home and Commercial Irrigation Ltd - 06 8767736
- P D Lord Ltd - 06 8786070
- Water Dynamics - 06 8739230
- Irrigation Services - 06 8700658
- Fruitfed Supplies - 06 8729716
- Water Force - 06 8707181
- The Irrigator - 06 8770100
- Harris Pumps - 06 8788622
- Think Water - 06 8420047
It is not mandatory that you engage a contractor from the approved installer list. However if you do, you will not be required to have your installation inspected by Council staff after installation, and saving you $329 GST. This is on the basis that your installer provides a suitable installation certificate to council that declares the meter is installed in accordance with Council guidelines. Your meter may be randomly chosen for approved installer audit processes, but these costs are not passed onto you.
Under Government regulations all water meters will be checked for accuracy on an ongoing basis and you should take this into consideration when deciding the type of meter you chose to have installed. Generally, the more accurate and reliable the meter, the more expensive it is. Other aspects that should also be considered are maintenance, ease of data collection and longevity.
For more information on water meter types please read the pamphlet on flow meters or speak with your installer about which meter is best for you.
When your meter has been installed, you will need to record and submit your water use data to council. There are a number of ways that your water use can be reported.
Telemetry provides an economical and efficient method to access remote data instantly, saving time and costs by eliminating manual data collection, and assisting with reporting water use to council.
Monitoring of water use is only one function of telemetry and the Regional Council is encouraging users to fully utilise telemetry, by also monitoring soil moisture and pump status, volumes and rate, systems are also able to send text and email alarms
Telemetry Providers
While the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is not able to specify a particular supplier or system, we have listed below all the telemetry providers with provision to send your water use data directly into the Councils data base, we recommend that you talk to the providers to find out what functions and services they can provide you.
Talk to your Irrigation Installers as most have a preferred supplier of telemetry equipment and should know the connectivity to your water meter.
Please contact waterinformation@hbrc.govt.nz for more information on how best to report your usage to council.
The water use web pages are still being developed, please check back again to see Council’s new initiatives and tools for water users.