Although the Raglan Community Board meeting failed through lack of a quorum, the various people in the Town Hall Supper Room on the 10th August discussed a number of agenda items. One item that drew a lot of interest was the planned installation of water meters in Raglan starting in October.
The Waikato District Council had previously budgeted $112,542 to begin this work in Raglan this year. There appeared to be confusion at the meeting as just what is going to happen. A few people said that the meters would be vandalised. Mr Richard Bax, General Manager, Water and Facilities explained that what was being installed now was a manifold, but he failed to explain what a manifold is. Council seems to have settled on wireless water meters that have a radio link back to the power meter board on each house, but Council is hoping to use a system that piggy backs on a Smart Power Meter system that WEL Networks hopes to install. Without the WEL system, the WDC would be left with wireless meters that were our of radio range. Of course the idea behind all of this is to cut meter reading costs. So no meters are being installed just yet. Mr Bax said, “Only the manifolds are being installed over the next 2 years, and the meter itself is programmed to be installed in the 3rd year.” Manifolds are a small water pipe fitting that allows a water meter to be screwed in later. See photo below.
So there are no water meters being installed in Raglan this year, so residents have a few years yet before they’ll have to pay for water.
Along with water meters always comes the suggestion that Council’s water business will be sold off as soon as it has a separate income, but the WDC has denied that this is the reason for the meters. It says that the water meters are going in to help water conservation.
In other countries where wireless water meters have been installed there have been suggestions that they interfere with home computer WiFi networks and cordless phones. We will have to wait a few years to see if this is a problem in Raglan.