A digital metering project is giving Longreach new clarity on consumption and leaks as the community adopts technology for long-term security.
For Longreach Regional Council, introducing digital metering is more than a technological upgrade. It is a cultural shift toward shared responsibility for water security.
It reflects a partnership between Council, technology providers and the community itself.
Mayor Tony Rayner describes water as “the backbone of each community” and said effective management was essential for the region’s future.
With residents now equipped with a customer portal, they have the tools and data to monitor their own water use, introducing a new layer of accountability and conservation awareness.
Single source water supply at risk
In central west Queensland, Longreach depends almost entirely on the Thomson River, a system shaped by overland flow and unpredictable climatic cycles. During the last major dry period, the river sank to critically low levels. Creeks thinned, channels receded, and the community entered high
levels of water restrictions. Residents and business owners felt the pressure of a shrinking supply, as water scarcity severely impacts the quality of life.
“When you see your water supply dropping and dropping quickly, and then you escalate your level of water restriction to level two and then level three, it becomes quite apparent that there is a critical issue to be managed,” Mayor Tony Rayner said. His reflection captured what many had come to understand. Water security could no longer rely on reactive responses to drought. The
community needed a long-term plan, supported by modern tools and clear, accessible information, to identify areas where water can be saved.
From that moment, Council embarked on one of its most significant water initiatives in decades. The rollout of digital water meters became central to that strategy. What began as a discussion about technology soon revealed itself as a community story about behaviour, data, trust and the future of Longreach.
How Longreach prepared for a new approach to water management
The first step in reshaping Longreach’s water future was a detailed assessment of the region’s vulnerabilities. The Longreach Regional Water Supply Security Assessment conducted in 2019 by the State Government, provided a clear picture of how frequently the town was pushed towards crisis.
Longreach sits in a drought-prone region where geography magnifies climate variability. Council recognised the town needed new tools to understand the complete picture of its water balance.
The result was the Longreach Water Security for Growth program. Supported by the National Water Grid, the Queensland Government and the Council’s own contributions, the program includes a wide range of projects. These include raising five weirs on the Thomson River, replacing water mains, and improving the water balance model that underpins long-term planning. Digital water meters were also identified as being essential for understanding daily and seasonal consumption patterns and for revealing losses that had previously gone unnoticed.
Previously, the meters were read only annually, with residents receiving a fixed annual allocation of 1,200 kilolitres. With only one reading per year, both residents and Council were operating in the dark with no visibility into how water was being used or lost to leaks. Another pressing issue was that the town’s existing mechanical meters were near the end of their useful life. Many were slowing down and under-reading.
It was clear that the town needed a system that could provide accurate, day-to-day data. The digital meters offered that opportunity. They were more accurate and equipped to send data remotely. They also provided residents with a way to see their own water use through a customer portal, introducing a new layer of accountability and conservation awareness.
Rethinking a drying river through long-term community planning
Mayor Rayner has lived in Longreach long enough to witness multiple cycles of drought, flood and uncertainty. His insight has shaped how Council communicates about water security. “Being a long-term local who has seen the impacts of drought and low water levels, I know firsthand what it is like. It impacts your liveability,” he said. “The last thing you want is to go into a period of low water supply and no gardens.” Rayner and CEO Brett Walsh made water security a top strategic priority in their discussions with state and federal governments.
The goal was not only to protect existing residents but also to support community growth. Families want reliable water. Businesses want certainty. Community groups want to know that sporting fields, parks and recreation areas can be maintained. “I needed to take the business case up with both the state and the federal government,” Rayner said. “We were very fortunate to get strong support.”
With funding secured, Council moved quickly from planning to implementation.
How partnerships strengthened the regional rollout
Collaborative partnerships with experience, local knowledge, and the right tools and processes enabled the project to launch quickly and efficiently. With Telstra as the prime contractor and communications provider, and Taggle Systems providing project management, devices and delivery, the project was well supported.
Manager of Innovation and Business Support Kimberley Dillon said Telstra’s partnership with Taggle helped establish confidence in the project. She said the involvement of the national provider added credibility and ensured the system underwent rigorous quality and security checks. For a remote municipal government with limited access to contractors, these partnerships and their experience were critical. They ensured fast responses to operational issues, easier communication with residents and a stronger foundation for future system upgrades.
Where experience counts
Taggle worked closely with Council staff to integrate the water meter data with internal financial and administrative processes. With over 75 council and utility customers, this process has been streamlined and is a critical part of the project. The ability for meter data to flow directly into billing and customer service processes reduced duplication, improved accuracy and saved time. “It is a massive bonus for billing, operations, and for the customer service team,” Utilities Consultant Shane Anderson said.
The customer service team can now support our residents with water enquiries using the water meter data. Once residents sign up for the customer portal, they will receive automatic leak alerts. The customer service team are also contacting property owners to quickly action the largest leaks.
Inside the digital rollout and the operational effort behind it
A slow start in trialling various technologies meant that, once the go-ahead was given, the pressure was on to meet funding milestones. The deadline was tight, with half the meters needing to be installed by the end of November. Telstra and Taggle got stuck coordinating all the moving parts to meet the deadline, including going the extra mile to have the meters flown in rather than shipped.
Council utilised its internal plumbing team to install the 800 meters, and they moved at an impressive pace. On their most productive day, they installed 93 meters. They completed the full 800 with time to spare. “They performed admirably and did the job,” Anderson said. “The digital metering project is the first component of the broader Water Security for Growth program to be delivered on time and under budget.”
Once the data started to flow
The data emerging from the newly installed meters revealed the scale of previously unseen issues. In the early weeks, the system recorded 233 potential leaks across the network, each lasting 48 hours. The total volume of water lost to these leaks in the first few weeks reached approximately 1600 kilolitres. The average rate of leakage was seventy litres per hour, and around fifteen per cent of meters showed signs of continuous flow.
These figures provided Council with its most accurate picture of water loss to date. They also confirmed that real-time monitoring could prevent long-term, costly losses and help residents avoid unexpected excess water charges.
How early wins and human stories helped build community trust
Having the technology in place was just the first step; community education was a critical part of the project and is driving the success. Workshops were held with local plumbers to help them understand the system, interpret data, and assist residents.
“We made sure that our plumbers were on board and had that intimate understanding of the customer portal,” Dillon said. “When they are looking at the data, they know what they are looking at and can actually help the residents and business owners.”
Real stories soon began to demonstrate how powerful the system could be. Following installation, an alert quickly appeared for a 400-litre-per-hour leak. Council contacted the resident, and a plumbing inspection revealed that the inlet shut-off to the float on an evaporative air conditioner was not working, causing water to run continuously.
This issue could have gone undetected for months and was resolved within a day. With the leak, the residents’ water consumption was 19,203 litres per day; once the leak was fixed, it dropped to 5,791 litres per day.
“They were super grateful,” Business Support Coordinator Anna Lacey said. “Better to nip it in the bud now before it continues.”
Another good news story
Two businesses next door to each other on the main street, owned by the same landlord, both had significant leaks. At first, Council thought there might be an issue with the data but sure enough there were leaks on both properties.
The first involved a continuously running toilet, and the other was another faulty evaporative cooling system. While the leaking toilet was not concealed, quantifying just how much water was being lost was a shock to the owner. Having the data prompted the owner to take action to fix it.
Without the alerts, the owner would have had a significant water bill at the end of the year. During times of drought when the river runs low, finding these unnecessary water losses quickly can have a significant impact on water security.
These early examples of identified losses helped ease community concerns. Residents began thinking differently about how they are using water, considering their irrigation and household systems. Some adjusted sprinkler times. Others checked older plumbing fixtures. Many became more aware of how much water they were using daily.
Backing of the Councillors
Councillors were briefed throughout the rollout to ensure their understanding aligned with community expectations. Their involvement helped reduce confusion, especially among residents who initially worried that digital monitoring might lead to unwanted scrutiny. The consistent message focused on conservation, community benefit, and long-term security rather than punitive measures.
What digital metering means for Longreach water security
Although the rollout has only recently begun, the long-term potential of digital metering is already clear. Aside from identifying leaks in properties, the system also allows Council to track water movement from the reservoir to the suburb and to the household.
Utilising the District Metered Area (DMA) functionality within Taggle’s software, zones can be set up for water management within the network. Any disparities between these points reveal non-revenue water losses in the network, enabling the Council to pinpoint leaks, assess aging infrastructure and prioritise investment in areas with greater losses.
Anderson said the new insights would reshape asset management. Council would no longer rely on assumptions based on pipe age or location. Decisions could be guided by actual performance, informing when and where to replace mains, how to manage reservoirs and how to plan for seasonal changes in consumption.
Longreach Regional Council CEO Brett Walsh said increased supply with the raising of the weirs had to be matched with smarter demand management. “Given that we will have increased supply, we also have to manage the demand for that supply, which is why the digital meters are critical.”
He said the alignment of supply and demand planning would become more critical as climate pressures intensified and the community grew.
Digital metering would support future drought-triggered management by providing a better understanding of how water is used at scale, helping Council create more accurate, timely restrictions, and reduce the severity and length of those restrictions by utilising the data to identify wasted water.
Walsh said the monitoring would also help improve planning for evaporative cooling systems, which can consume significant water volumes during peak summer months.
A community taking charge of its future
With digital meters in place, Longreach now has a clear and continuously updated picture of how its most important resource is used. The community has begun to adapt its behaviour, and Council has the information it needs to plan for decades rather than seasons. Longreach will continue to rely on the ebb and flow of the Thomson River, but it now has the tools to prepare for dry periods and protect its natural resources.
The story unfolding in the region is one of resilience, clarity and long-term security. For a community shaped by harsh climate and strong identity, the project marks a meaningful step toward greater confidence in its future.
Mayor Rayner said the project’s success reflected something deeper than technology or infrastructure. “Water is the livelihood of our community, and management of that is very much part of it,” he said. “If we can better manage that resource, that is a really critical tool for us.”