Water takes and bores

Regulations came into force for measuring and reporting water take consents in November 2010. The Regulations require a water measuring device (water meter) to be installed on all water takes greater than 5 litres/sec. Consent holders are also required in the Regulations to record daily use (or weekly if approval is provided by the Regional Council) and submit records once a year. Every water meter is required to be verified (a test to check the accuracy of a water meter) every five years.

For existing water take consents, there is a transitional period for compliance with the Regulations. The timeframe for compliance depends on the size of your water take. From 10 November 2012 all water takes greater than 20 litres/sec are required to comply with the Regulations.

Please note that the Regulations specify minimum requirements for measuring and reporting water use. It is important that you are familiar with your consent conditions as they may require you to undertake more specific and frequent measuring and reporting of water use.  

GWRC has produced a  Water Meters (PDF 460 KB)  booklet to help you in complying with the Regulations and your consent conditions. Also see the Ministry for the Environment website for more detailed information.

WATER USE enables consent holders to upload water meter readings via website entry. Download our  WATER USE basic user guide (PDF 439 KB)  to get started with uploading water meter readings. Please contact us if you are unsure of your customer number and password.

If you have a datalogger or telemetry unit attached to your water meter, please contact us and we can advise you on how your data can be transferred electronically to us. 

You can also download a water meter reading file (XLSX 38 KB)  to record your water use 1 July 2021- 30 June 2022.

Irrigation NZ has developed the Water Measurement 'Blue Tick' Accreditation Programme, which GWRC supports. This programme identifies accredited service providers for installing and verifying water meters, and managing water use data. Using an accredited service provider gives confidence to water take consent holders that any water measurement undertaken is completed to a high standard and in accordance with best practice and minimum standards.

Download a list of accredited service providers (PDF 24 KB)  in the Wellington region or view the Irrigation NZ website for the full list of accredited installers and verifiers.

A  compliance monitoring strategy (PDF 52 KB)  has been developed to ensure an appropriate level of measuring and reporting water use is undertaken by water take consent holders in the region. 

Under Rule 15 of the Regional Freshwater Plan the construction of a bore requires a resource consent. You can apply using our application forms. 

Once you have obtained a resource consent, it is important that you submit a  Bore/Well Log Form (PDF 221 KB)  within one month of your bore being constructed. 

Due to recent interest in water bottling consents, GWRC has pulled together information relating to water bottling consents and how freshwater is managed in the Wellington region. You can find more information on our Water Bottling Consents information page. 

GWRC has developed  aquifer test guidelines (PDF 1.1 MB)  for the Wellington region. These guidelines will need to be followed in the investigation and preparation of resource consents applications for taking groundwater. An  aquifer test analysis tool (XLS 12 MB)  has also been developed for the region.