New water meters slated to installed in Winnipeg residential homes next year will read themselves and transmit encrypted water-usage data to the city, city council's finance committee was told Tuesday.

Winnipeg's water and waste department plans to embark on a five-year, $135-million water meter upgrade in 2026 that will see approximately 221,000 analog residential water meters replaced with new "smart" meters capable of monitoring water usage in real time.

Most of Winnipeg's existing analog mete…