Learn how to read your water meter.

Find out how to check for water leaks.

Meter reading frequencies

  • Residential - quarterly
  • Commercial - quarterly

Commercial and industrial users may be subject to additional water charges if their water volume used exceeds their allowance. 

Arrange a reading

When a commercial or industrial property is sold, a final reading of the water meter must be made(external link).

How to check your water meter

Water meters are usually located in a box in the ground on or near your front boundary.

They are normally in a straight line between the road and your outside hose tap.

The meter boxes come in many different shapes and sizes, both metal and plastic.

Reading your water meter

You can check the amount of water being used by reading your meter a couple of times.

Most water meters record water flow in litres. (Note: 1 cubic metre = 1000 litres)

This particular water meter would read 36,721,539.8L.

There are some areas that still have old water meters that record in imperial gallons (note: 1 gallon = 4.545 litres).

To read your meter, open the flip-up lid to show your property’s current reading. After about 12 seconds the meter will start to cycle through other measurements. If you miss your reading in the first 12 seconds, simply close and reopen the lid for the display cycle to start again.

The water meter will display your property’s water use in cubic meters (m3), this is a unit of 1000 litres. There are up to nine digits displayed on the screen when you first open the lid – six digits to the left of the decimal point, and three digits to the right.

When we read your water meter, we only record the digits to the left of the decimal point.

Example

The meter pictured is showing ‘2.182’ and a little black triangle on the screen is pointing to ‘m3’ (cubic metres) printed on the right-hand side.

This means 2182 litres have been used.

 

Leak display

If a leak has been identified by the water meter, it will be displayed on the screen. Refer to item 4, Leakage indicator.