Tamworth council's new water meter rollout detects leaks across homes

The Oxley Vale homeowner's phone rang with Tamworth Regional Council on the other end suggesting something wasn't quite right with the readings from his home's water meter.

And it was no small problem, rather 350 litres of water was leaking out every hour unbeknown to him.

"A representative from council phoned me to explain they suspected I had a leak at my property," Mr Spokes said.

"Eventually the source of the leak was detected underneath the concrete at my place.

"Without the call from council, I wouldn't have discovered the leak until I got my water bill.

"The leak alone was costing me over $12 per day in water usage."

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Council is in the midst of a rollout of smart water meters across the region which can give readings in real time.

But the rollout is already garnering results to save water, with three big detections showing more than 19,000 litres of water leaks in a day.

Under the new technology, council said if water continually runs then officers can tell something is wrong at the location.

"The way in which the leak detection software works is that, if a property has water usage every hour of every day there is a high likelihood of a leak," Council's Manager of Water and Environmental Operations Dan Coe said.

"In general, every household has at least one hour in the day where no water is used by toilet flushing, hand washing or showers.

"Council's online operational portal will alert staff if there are properties which have not had zero water usage in a 24-hour period.

"Council staff can then flag this property for monitoring and if the pattern does not change, council will make contact with the property owner."

The new technology will give ratepayers real time access to their water meter readings, once the rollout is finished later this year.

The portal will allow residents to set up email and SMS alerts for water leaks and high water consumption periods.

Mr Coe said the portal will help to show residents when and how much water they're using, when they could preserve it, or where it might be being wasted.

And the aim of the end game is water sustainability to help in the dry times.

"The more we can conserve water, the longer we can maintain good water supply to residents during periods of drought," Mr Coe said.

"Council is committed to increasing the sustainability and liveability of our region and if we can do this in a way that also helps our customers save money, it's a win for everyone."

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