If you live in Tairua or own a business there, you may have received a letter from the Thames-Coromandel District Council stating that your property has been chosen for a “smart” water meter trial and that any exisiing analogue water meter will be removed from your property and replaced with a “smart” water meter which will be on Council property. The trial of  “smart” water meters in Tairua is due to start in May and  approximately 25% of homes/businesses have been selected by the Council to participate.

If the “smart” water meters planned to be used in Tairua are the same brand and model as those used in a  trial in Tauranga, they may transmit radiofrequency signals as often as every eight seconds and the transmission range may be up to half a kilometer, meaning that people whose properties have not been chosen to be part of the trial may be exposed to radiofrequency radiation from meters  on neighbouring properties (or on council-owned land.)*

In addition to the possible health effects from the additional radiofrequency radiation produced by “smart” water meters,  “smart” water meters may pose privacy concerns depending on the infrastructure that is used to support their use.

Please read this post for a more general discussion  of “smart” water meters (including a discussion of privacy in relation to “smart” water metering):

https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/latest-news/smart-water-meters-in-nz-the-situation-so-far/

If you do not want to be part of the trial, it may be helpful to do the following:

Email to the Council refusing consent  for the following:

1) Entry to your property for the purposes of removal of  your analogue meter

2) Radiofrequency radiation to be broadcast over your property by your water provider, including to or from any of your neighbour’s properties or to or from council property

3)  Installation of any electronic device monitoring the supply of water to your home or business from which patterns of use of water within your home/business could be inferred, thus violating your privacy 

 

You may also want to put a sign on your letter box and/or water meter stating the same.

If you do this, and would like to share the Council’s response, please email through this link: https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/contact-us/

Thank you.

* NB:  Details of the make and model and other specifications for the “smart” water meters for the planned Tairua trial will be posted on www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz as soon as they are available.