Abstract
Access to clean drinking water is one of the most fundamental components of good public health. Leaking water infrastructure poses a threat to this basic necessity and wastes precious funds. In regions where water is metered in Aotearoa New Zealand, we calculate the median price of water charged to households is $2.13 per cubic meter. Based on this figure, we estimate that the cost of the nearly 20% of reticulated water leaking from pipes is around $122 million per year. Central and local government need to act to address this wastage and lack of resiliency in the water supply. This includes mechanisms for improved funding of local government, as well as greater use of water metering with equity safeguards.