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Why Is a Water Tanker Sometimes Necessary?
From time to time, the public water supply to the estate may be insufficient to meet the daily needs of all residents. This can occur due to maintenance works on the mains network, seasonal pressure drops, or periods of high demand. In such situations, management arranges for a water tanker (bowser) to deliver additional water directly into the estate’s main storage tank, ensuring continuity of supply for all units.
The Challenge of Fair Allocation
Unlike mains water, tanker deliveries are not metered at the point of entry — the water flows directly into the shared tank and blends with the public supply. This makes it impossible to measure exactly how much tanker water each unit consumed. A fair and transparent method is therefore needed to share the cost of the tanker among residents.
How the Cost Is Allocated
When a tanker delivery is recorded, Snap & Bill calculates each unit’s share using only measured data from that billing period — no estimates, no historical averages, no assumptions.
- Step 1 — Establish total water received at the property. The total water available to the estate that period is the sum of the mains meter reading and the tanker volume as stated on the delivery record.
- Step 2 — Determine the private units’ share. The sum of all private unit meter readings for the period is divided by the total water received. This gives the exact proportion of water consumed by private units.
- Step 3 — Calculate the tanker cost attributable to private units. That proportion is applied to the total tanker cost to determine the amount to be shared among residents.
- Step 4 — Allocate your individual share. Your share is proportional to your own unit’s meter reading for that period. Only units that recorded consumption participate in the allocation — the more water your unit consumed, the higher your share. Units with zero consumption are excluded entirely.
What If No Unit Recorded Any Consumption?
In the exceptional circumstance that no private unit recorded any consumption during a tanker period, the system will flag the allocation as unprocessable and management will be notified to resolve the situation manually.
Worked Example
| Mains meter reading | 120 m³ |
| Tanker volume delivered | 30 m³ |
| Total water received at the property | 150 m³ |
| Total tanker cost | 4,500 |
Each unit’s share is calculated directly as:
(Unit consumption ÷ Total water received) × Total tanker cost
| Unit | Consumption | Tanker charge |
|---|---|---|
| Lot A | 60 m³ | 60 ÷ 150 × 4,500 = 1,800 |
| Lot B | 40 m³ | 40 ÷ 150 × 4,500 = 1,200 |
| Lot C | 20 m³ | 20 ÷ 150 × 4,500 = 600 |
| Lot D | 0 m³ | 0 — excluded |
| Total billed | 3,600 |
Lot D recorded no consumption during the period and is excluded from the allocation entirely. The remaining 900 represents the portion consumed by unbilled areas such as common or shared facilities.
Our Commitment
This method is designed to be simple, transparent, and fully defensible. Every figure used in the calculation — mains reading, tanker volume, and individual meter readings — is a measured fact from the billing period in question. No estimates or historical averages are involved. Units that did not consume water during a tanker period are never charged. Every allocation is auditable and consistent across all residents.