Wellington householders may soon have their water usage metered like most Aucklanders.
The idea is being floated as a solution to the capital's seemingly extravagant approach which sees them using a third as much again as Aucklanders.
For many New Zealanders gardening is a passion, but this is the culprit that is driving Wellington's water consumption up.
"The big one is our gardens, and there's two really simple things they can do," says Peter Glensor of the Wellington Regional Council. "They can summer-proof their garden by mulching, and they can control their hosing of their garden."
Low water levels in storage lakes last summer sparked Wellington's first sprinkler ban, but this year there is a lot more water going into them.
Wellingtonians use an average 400 litres per person per day. In Auckland, where there are meters, it is 300 litres. But the big cities are not the worst offenders.
"In some non-metered jurisdictions, for instance in Queenstown, the Kapiti Coast, the use per person per day is up around 650-700 litres," says Murray Gibb of NZ Water & Wastes Association.
Mr Gibb says inside-the-house water usage is pretty consistent around the country at 180 litres. Most is used in the shower, followed by the toilet, washing machine, dishwasher and running the tap to wash our hands or brush our teeth.
Currently in Wellington there is a pay-as-you-go system for commercial customers, and a small number of residential customers use meters voluntarily, but for most water rates are calculated on the capital value of their property, s system some say is unfair.
For Wellington City Council, metering makes sense.
"It means that people pay the true cost of their water, and then I think we'll start seeing Wellingtonians start to conserve," says Mayor Kerry Prendergrast.
"If people are told how much they use, they tend to use probably 10 to 20 percent less," says Peter Neilson.
Meters don't come cheap, but the Mayor says it is all relative.
"The figure I'm being told is it will cost about $40 million to put meters into Wellington City. That's a lot cheaper than the cost of a new dam."
The council admits it needs to get its own house in order first. Leaky infrastructure causes around 20 percent of the capital city's water to be lost.
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