A massive underground water leak outside the New Plymouth District Council Civic Centre was losing 5,000 litres an hour before the pressure blew up the site's water meter.
The hidden leak near Vivian Street was completely undetectable from the surface until council staff went to investigate the broken meter last week.
New Plymouth Mayor Max Brough revealed the incident during his weekly livestream on Monday. He used the situation to highlight the value of the district's ongoing water meter rollout and the looming transition to volumetric billing.
Brough said the leak was underground and completely silent, and contractors spent almost a week repairing the leak.
"It’s a wonder it didn’t wash away the bottom of Carrington Street," Brough said.
The council has been installing water meters across the district to identify leaks and eventually transition properties to volumetric billing.
A 12-month mock billing period began on July 1 this year. This phase allows households to track their water use and fix any private leaks before actual billing starts on July 1, 2027.
When the actual charging begins, New Plymouth residents will receive their water and wastewater bills from Wai Hononga, the council-controlled organisation set up by NPDC to manage water services.
The council will continue to handle stormwater via a fixed annual charge.
While the meters are designed to charge users based on consumption, Brough says their secondary purpose of leak detection is already proving critical.
"That’s the value of water meters," he said. "And that’s just one of many that we’ve found around the district, and we found it in our own backyard."
