Smart Water Meter Network

Council's Customer Portal site, YourWater, is currently under development with pilot testing expected to commence in coming months ahead of the site launch later this year. From this site customers will be able to monitor daily water consumption. Email and SMS alerts can be set up to notify of water leaks or spikes in consumption.

Rollout of Council’s Smart Water Meter Network has commenced in Charbon this week with Kandos to follow next week.

All the region’s main town centres and villages with water supply connection are scheduled in the rollout that is expected to be complete by 30 June 2020.

As part of the project, meters will be installed free of charge to all households connected to town water after Council secured $1.2m through the Australian Government’s Smart Cities and Suburbs Program.

The Smart Water Meter Network will provide an estimated $445,000 annual cost saving to ratepayers by detecting leakages in real time.

“In 2015/16, 140 million litres of water was lost due to leakages,” Council’s General Manager Brad Cam said.

“The new meters will relay data on an hourly basis to Council, allowing Water Teams to act promptly.

“Residents will be able to manage their future usage by accessing a customer portal which will provide real time data on the amount of water they are using daily. This customer portal is currently in development and is expected to be launched May 2020.”

As part of the rollout, households will receive a letter from Council advising when a new smart water meter will be installed at the property as well as information on the installation process.

Following installation of the new water meter, there may be a build-up of air in the property’s water pipes. When residents first run a tap, this air will be pushed out and may cause a popping and spluttering effect in the tap. This is perfectly normal and will pass within 30-60 seconds. This can be expected from all taps in and outside the house.