How to read your meter
We all need to take responsibility for how much water we use each day and reduce this to a maximum of 170 litres. A good starting place is to find out how much you use at the moment – read your water meter or read your water advice notice from your council.
To check your daily consumption, simply record your meter reading every day and calculate how many litres used. Follow these simple steps:
- Open the lid on your water meter and read the meter from left to right. Look for:
- the numbers that are either black on a white background, or white on a black background. They show kilolitres (thousands of litres) of water consumption
- red numbers or small dials. These show fractions of a kilolitre
- Write down the number displayed on the face of your water meter, and then again two weeks later on the same day and time.
- Subtract the first reading from the second one, then divide this figure by the number of days between readings. The result is your average daily consumption. Divide your household's average daily consumption by the number of people in your home to calculate your daily per person water usage. Are you above or below Target 170?
By monitoring your water meter you can also find out if there is a hidden leak on your property – a good way to check is to turn off all taps and see if your meter continues to tick over. If it does, you may have a leaking pipe, tap or toilet. Engage a plumber if the leak is serious.
Water meters are normally located on the footpath, close to your front boundary line and are set in the ground in a meter box.