Toowoomba Regional Council needing 5000 volunteers to sign up for new smart water meter rollout

The Toowoomba Regional Council is offering property owners the chance to be the first to use new smart water meter technology.

The council is looking for volunteers to get their water meters replaced. Pic jamie Hanson

Property owners across the Toowoomba region will get the chance to be the first to use new smart water meters being rolled out.

Toowoomba Regional Council water and waste chair Cr Rebecca Vonhoff said the it was calling for volunteers to be part of the initial rollout of smart water meters.

“We’re putting together a group of 5000 property owners initially to help finetune how the system will work,” Cr Vonhoff said.

“Ideally we’ll have a mixture of domestic and commercial customers from across the region volunteer.”

Cr Vonhoff said the volunteers were needed, even though council would directly contact 5000 property owners.

“We would like domestic and commercial water users to be part of the initial rollout and it will be a great opportunity to see first-hand the benefits smart water meters will bring,” she said.

“For property owners, the meters will provide close to real-time readings, with a web portal and/or an app to check usage. This means they will be able to identify high consumption and possible water leaks and potentially save money and water.

“The meters will provide Council with advanced analytics to help balance the entire water system and operate a more efficient network.

“The system will also help with the early detection of leaks and breaks in the network.”

Water and waste portfolio leader Cr Nancy Sommerfield welcomed the advances on the project.

“I’m delighted that the smart metre journey has advanced to this next stage, especially as there will be no cost to property owners to switch from their existing meters to the smart water meters,” she said.

“We would welcome community members – residential, industrial and commercial – from across the region to help us test the network from end to end.

“Once the initial rollout has been completed, the council will make any adjustments needed and look to complete the entire rollout over three to four years.

“This is a great opportunity for property owners to test leading-edge technology while helping them to better manage water use.”

For more information and to be part of the initial rollout register at www.tr.qld.gov.au/smartwatermeters.