Does Your Local Council Charge You For Water? What It’s Really Costing You

glass-of-bubbly-waterI live in Tauranga city, New Zealand (I love it here!).

Our council (The Tauranga City Council) charges us $1.50 per cubic metre for water.

Fair enough I spose. That’s about $100 every 6 months for our house of 2 adults, 2 kids.

A cubic metre is 1m x 1m x 1m of water. That’s 1000 litres. That’s 1000kg.

For every day use, how much does it really cost?

Here are 4 examples to put it in perspective.

1. How much does it cost to fill a 10 litre bucket to wash my car?

  • A 10 litre bucket will cost me 1.5c to fill ($1.50/100)
  • Rinsing would be about 5 times that so another 7.5c (5×1.5)
  • 9c compared to a car wash for $10-$15? Pretty easy choice

2. How much does it cost to drink water?

  • Drinking 1 litre will cost me 1.5c for 10 refills
  • 1.5c for 10 bottles compared to $2.50 for a 750ml Pump Bottle? Pretty easy choice

3. How much does it cost to water the garden?

  • Watering time = 30mins
  • Flow rate: 1 litre = 10 seconds
  • 30 mins = 1800 seconds (60×30)
  • Use 180 litres in 30 mins (1800/10)
  • Cost: 27c (1.50/1000*180)
  • Conclusion: Watering the garden for 30mins will cost me 27c. This sucks because grow-yourself vege gardens are a waste of time.

4. How much does it cost to fill the kids paddling pool?

  • INTEX Easy Set Pool 8ft capacity: 2,700 litres
  • Cost: $4.05 (1.50/1000*2700)
  • Conclusion: Filling the paddling pool will cost me $4.05. So I better buy some chlorine and use the pump because dumping $4 worth of slimey water every week is not cool

Do you pay for water in your city?

Say so in the comment below.