The first stage of Government regulations on water on water measuring has come into force.
All landowners who take more than 20 litres of water per second from a groundwater well, stream or river have to install a water-measuring system.
One region where there's a heavy reliance by many cropping farmers and orchardists on taking water is Hawke's Bay.
Regional council compliance manager Bryce Lawrence says there are currently about 1000 meters in the region which provide data to the council.
He expects that once the deadline for all rural land users of water comes into force in November 2016, there will be more than 2000 meters providing the council with data.
