Water metering and reporting

If you are a licence or works approval holder, or a water industry entity (that is, a company or local council that provides a retail water service or a retail sewerage service), you may be required to meter your water and provide us with the meter readings.

Water meter holders in prescribed water areas

Read your meter(s) and submit your reading(s) at any time

Provide your meter read(s) by submitting a meter reading form.

Important note: The Meter Read Form has changed. To assist you to submit your annual meter read(s), please refer to your meter notification letter. These will be sent in the week commencing 4 July 2024. If you know your meter serial numbers, you can submit a meter read at any time using the new form.

Please note: You will not receive a water usage advice after submitting your meter read(s) for the 2023/24 water year. If you require information about your licence or account balance, please contact your regional water licencing office.

I need help to do a self-read

To do a self-read:

• you will need your: instrument (water licence/works approval) number(s), instrument holder name (exactly as it is on each licence) and meter serial number(s) for each licence
• open the meter reading form and follow the instructions. You can access the form on any mobile device
• enter one name only on the form, even if you have more than one name recorded on your licence
• record the volume displayed on your meter. For more help you can download the 'how to read your meter' fact sheet
• take a photo of your meter when you do your read
• call your regional water licencing office if you are unable to use the online form.

How often do I need to do a self-read?

Check your licence or works approval to see how often you need to submit a self-read. It will be at least annually.

Licence requires an annual read

If your licence requires an annual read, read your meter between 1-14 July and submit by 31 July each year.

Licence requires a quarterly read

If your licence requires a quarterly read, read your meter and submit on the following dates each year:

• 1-14 October and submit read by end of October
• 1-14 January and submit read by end of January
• 1-14 April and submit read by end of April
• 1-14 July (end of year read) and submit read by end of July.

Self-read exceptions

You do not have to do a self-read if you:

• are not required to meter; however if you do have a meter you can submit readings to us, and the information will be used to inform future management strategies for the water resource
• have been granted a deferral on the installation of a meter
• are still within a grace period for the installation of a meter
• haven’t yet been issued a licence.

Water industry entities

Water industry entities are required to provide meter readings annually in July, as a minimum.

In some cases, water industry entities may be required to provide meter readings on a more frequent basis, such as quarterly, in accordance with the conditions of their licence or section 105 authorisation.

The licence or authorisation will indicate whether water industry entities are required to collect and submit the meter readings themselves.

How to notify us of work or changes to your meter

If you are required to meter your water (as per the conditions of your licence), you must tell us when you have:

• a faulty meter
• installed and validated a meter
• revalidated a meter
• repaired a meter
• tested a meter
• relocated or permanently removed a meter
• performed a 5-yearly inspection on a meter.

Validation certificates

Meter installations must be validated by a nationally accredited and certified meter installer (CMI) who must complete and provide a validation certificate within 28 days of the installation of a meter. Validation certificates can be found here.

When a certified person performs a validation on a new or replacement meter, they are required to install security seals on the meter installation. The type of seal to be used must be a South Australian Government badged security seal purchased through Irrigation Australian Limited.

Metering exemptions and flexibility

The South Australian Licensed Water Use Metering Policy requires all licensed water use to be metered, resulting in approximately 95% being metered. However, in limited low risk circumstances, exemption from metering may be granted (for example stock and domestic water sources or to permit water use from multiple sources to be recorded through a single meter). All exemptions are consistent with national guidelines described in the 'Best Practice Guidelines for Minimum Metering Thresholds'.

Metering exemptions or flexibility can be granted upon application by the licence holder(s). Where metering exemptions or flexibility applies, further details can be found in the meter implementation plan for that area (meter implementation plans are listed below under ‘further information’). In instances where the requirement to meter is exempt, the associated allocation is deemed as 100% used (e.g., if the allocation is 50ML, then 50ML is deemed used) which has implications for carry over and allocation trades/transfers.

Further information

• Fact sheet for Validators
• Fact sheet: Overview of National Metering Standards
• User guide – South Australian Licensed Water Use Meter Specification
• FAQs: South Australia's Metering Framework
• Water metering policies and legislation
• How to read your meter fact sheet

Meter implementation plans

• River Murray Prescribed Watercourse
• Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area
• Western Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area
• Barossa Prescribed Water Resources Area
• Clare Valley Prescribed Water Resources Area
• Marne Saunders Prescribed Water Resources Area
• Mallee and Peake, Roby and Sherlock Prescribed Wells Areas
• Southern Basins and Musgrave Prescribed Wells Areas
• Central Adelaide Prescribed Wells Area

Contact us

Please contact the appropriate water licensing office if you have any further questions regarding your metering obligations.