Upgrading of supplies required

Timaru District Council could start water metering ratepayers in an effort to ensure security of supply.

The proposal, flagged in the council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), suggests replacing the flat $300 urban water charge with a userpays tariff system.

Submissions to the plan close at 5pm on Monday and council has so far received around 400 submissions.

TDC infrastructure group manager Ashley Harper said the water charge proposal would help ensure the resilience of the current supply.

Harper said the council has not yet worked out the tariff structure for water charging.

He said there would be a threeto-four year lead time from the start of the water meter installation project to its completion.

‘‘We know from studies that introducing water meters can reduce consumption by 15 to 30 per cent,’’ Harper said.

‘‘People end up valuing water like they value power. They become more conscious of their use and the value of it.’’

According to the LTP’s consultation document, the district’s current peak water demand is about 29 million litres per day. There had been summer water restrictions of some form in 2011 to 2015.

‘‘Maintaining our current approach will likely lead to more severe restrictions being imposed more often,’’ the document says.

The council takes water from the Pareora River and Opihi River.

Although Pareora River produces the highest quality of water, the council can not take more than 18 million litres from that source. The council takes up to 20 million litres per day from the Opihi River source.

According to the consultation document, if the water metering charges went ahead, they would be introduced progressively for urban water users in the Timaru District.

‘‘If water metering was not introduced, work on the Opihi River source would need to be considered in the next five years, and in the meantime more stringent water restrictions would be imposed more often,’’ the documents say.

Harper said the council was also looking into further developing the Opihi River water source. Without water metering, the council’s consultation document says this could cost upwards of $45 million.

‘‘It’s not a matter of either-or,’’ Harper said.

‘‘It’s likely we could push forward with some upgrades even if we go ahead with water metering.’’

It is projected that the cost of installing the infrastructure for the water meters would be about $15m.

Harper said sourcing water would be very costly.

‘‘There’s groundwater available but it’s deep and we don’t know what the cost of treating the water to make sure it reaches regulations,’’ he said.

Timaru uses about 77 per cent of the district’s urban water supply. Large commercial users already pay for water by the amount they use. new