A water meter with an emergency shutdown is a dual purpose water meter, which records the accumulated water consumption of individual runs as any regular water meter, and detects water leakage or uncontrolled flow by comparing each single continuous run in non-equal batches with a set target quantity. The water meter shuts down the water flow if a single continuous run reach that target. The water meter is adaptable to any type of water meter or method of recording, turbine, vertical turbine, positive displacement, multiple jet, propeller, or magnetic or electronic flow measuring.