Reading Your Water Meter |
updated: 20/09/07 |
With an ongoing drought affecting water supplies on the Central Coast, Gosford City and Wyong City Councils are asking residents to voluntarily reduce their internal town water usage to 150 litres per person per day.
Currently the average person uses about 180 litres of town water per day but this varies greatly from house to house and family to family. Checking your water meter regularly is the easiest way of monitoring your water usage.
Generally, water meters are located in line with the front boundary of your property. They are above ground with a metal or plastic lid. Beware of insects when opening the lid. Water meters vary.
Some have numbers and clocks, others only have numbers. Using the number of red digits on your meter, match your water meter with one of the types shown below.
The meter generally reads from left to right - black digits show the kilolitres (1,000 litres) and red digits show the single litres used. Your meter may have two, three or four red numbers.
Recording your meter reading regularly will show how much water you use and help you detect leaks early. If there is evidence of a leak you should contact your plumber.
How do I know how much water I use?
You can either check you meter once a week or every day of the week. It may be useful to check it once a day for the first week and then use the weekly table each month to see if you are keeping to your target.
At the same time each day, record the reading on your meter and use one of the tables below to work out how much water your household is using. For more information contact your local Council.
Weekly Water Usage
Use this table for a quick and easy measure of your water usage. Record your water meter reading for each week in the table. Then subtract the first week’s reading from the second week’s reading to work out how much town water you have used during the week.
Daily Water Usage
Use this table if you want to see how your water usage differs each day, for example when you do all your washing or over the weekend.
Record the reading on your meter at the same time every day for eight days to see how your usage changes. Remembering for everyday after Day 0 to subtract the previous days reading from the current day to work out your daily town water usage.
Click here to download a copy of the info sheet above in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf).
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