MORE smart water meters are on the way for the city, according to Bathurst Regional Council.
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But it will not be on anywhere near the scale of the rollout of smart meters at Dubbo, where that city's council plans to cover nearly 18,000 homes.
Director of engineering services Darren Sturgiss said Bathurst Regional Council started a trial of the smart water meters in May 2015, when 132 automatic meters were installed.
"This has been expanded to a total of 446 meters in place and council will be further installing an additional 300 meters over a range of users to test the function over sizes and end use," he said.
The smart meters, Mr Sturgiss said, "enable private property leaks to be detected", thereby saving water.
The meters can also be read remotely and allow for a more accurate "modelling of water use in the water network", he said.
Dubbo Regional Council, meanwhile, announced in November that it would be installing the smart meters at 17,700 homes and 2300 businesses in the region as it updates what it said was its "ageing" water meter infrastructure.
The Dubbo council is hoping the NSW Government will fund half the cost of the smart meter project, which could be as much as $4.54 million.
Dubbo Regional Council chief executive officer Michael McMahon said the smart meters would give the council the ability to provide advice to households on their water use, detect excessive water use and identify water leaks.
There has been criticism in Dubbo, however, that the compulsory smart meter installation is a "big brother" move.
