How to find your water toby and water meter
Same box at the front boundary, usually under twenty years of lawn.
Your water toby is the shut-off valve at your street boundary, normally in the berm or footpath under a small lid. Where a property is metered, the meter sits in or beside the same box - though not every New Zealand property has one. Your water authority holds the connection record for both.
Type your address to see who serves itOpen the mapLook along the front boundary
Both the toby and the meter sit at or just inside the street boundary, most often in the grass berm or the footpath. They are frequently in line with the driveway edge or the letterbox.
The toby is the shut-off valve; the meter, if you have one, records what you use. On a metered property they are usually in the same box or in boxes side by side.
Check whether your council meters water at all
Metering is not universal in New Zealand. Some councils meter every connection, some meter only commercial properties, and some fund water through rates with no residential meters at all. If your address is not metered, there is no meter to find - but there is still a toby.
Clear the ground
Lawn growth, topsoil and mulch swallow these lids within a few years. A screwdriver probed gently in a grid across the likely area will find a lid that is only an inch or two down.
Probe gently. The pipe itself is not far below the box.
Ask your water authority
They installed the connection and read the meter, so they hold the recorded position of both. Find the operator serving your address in the directory below - most will tell you where they are, and some will come and find them.
Once you find them, keep them findable
Clear the lids, keep them free of turf, and note where they are. Every minute spent hunting for a toby is a minute a burst pipe keeps running.
Worth noting the meter reading too. A meter that climbs while nothing is running is one of the earliest signs of a leak in your private supply pipe.
See who serves your address before you request anything.
Pin your worksite and UtilityFinder shows every operator whose network reaches it, with contact details and locate-request links in one place.
Who holds your water connection record
Drinking water suppliers by region, plus rural and community schemes. Open an operator for contact details and their enquiry link.
Northland
5 operators
Auckland
1 operatorWaikato
13 operators
Bay of Plenty
6 operators
Hawke's Bay
4 operators
Taranaki
3 operators
Manawatū-Whanganui
7 operators
Wellington
11 operators
Marlborough
2 operators
West Coast
4 operators
Canterbury
15 operators
Otago
5 operators
Southland
4 operators
Not sure which of these serve your address? Pin your worksite on the map and UtilityFinder will narrow it down for you.
What the records won't tell you
- Tobies and meter boxes get paved, turfed and landscaped over, and the record of the original location may be decades old.
- Rear sections and shared driveways sometimes have one toby serving several properties, and a shared meter may cover several units.
- The lid marks the valve or meter, not the alignment of the pipe running from it to the house.
- Some older properties have no accessible toby at all and are isolated at the main instead.
Every plan you get back is indicative. Records show where an asset was recorded, not where it is today - so treat a plan as a reason to dig carefully, never as permission to dig confidently.
Common questions
- What does a water toby look like in New Zealand?
- A small round or rectangular lid, usually plastic or cast metal, set flush with the ground near the street boundary. Lifting it reveals a valve that shuts off the supply to the property.
- Does every property in New Zealand have a water meter?
- No. Metering policy is set by each council, so some areas meter every connection while others charge through rates and have no residential meters at all.
- Can I turn my own toby off?
- Usually yes for your own supply, and it is worth knowing how before you need to. Take care with shared tobies, since turning one off can cut a neighbour's water too.
- Who is responsible for the toby and meter?
- The water authority generally owns the toby and meter and everything on the street side; the pipe from there to the house is the property owner's. The exact boundary varies by district, so confirm with your local operator.
Keep going
How to find water mains on your property (NZ)
Where the public main sits, where your private pipe takes over, and who to ask for each.
Who supplies water to my address (NZ)
Council, CCO, community scheme or your own bore - it depends where you are.
How to find plumbing plans for your house
They are in the council property file - if anyone ever lodged them.
How to safely locate underground utilities
The full investigation process, from desktop plan search to on-site verification.
Utility markout colours in New Zealand
Blue means water - the full NZ colour code for service marks on the road.
See what's underground at your address.
UtilityFinder maps NZ utility operators on a single interactive map. Pin your worksite and start your plan search in seconds.