General manager operations Ruth Stokes has reaffirmed the council's position that it will not irrigate the park.
''The current dry condition of Allenby Park is consistent with the rest of the landscape.
''We are focusing efforts on the sports grounds, reserves and gardens with the highest use.
''Kelly's Flat, for example, has in-ground irrigation and higher use.''
Ms Stokes was responding to calls from residents to reinstate irrigation used previously on the 1.6ha reserve.
They object to the park's parched, weed-covered state.
Quentin Smith, who lives opposite the park, said he had met council staff and deputy mayor Lyal Cocks to request either a reinstated watering programme or, as a last resort, new irrigation equipment for the local community to operate.
Mr Cocks indicated to the Otago Daily Times last month he hoped the council would provide some equipment for residents to use, as it had done at McMurdo Park in Albert Town.
However, Mr Smith said the council was ''refusing to provide any sort of irrigation system, such as a $2000 to $3000 K-line'' for a community watering schedule.
This was despite a $10,000 irrigator donated to the council by the Cleugh family for watering the park recently becoming unserviceable.
Ms Stokes said for health and safety reasons, the council no longer used manual irrigators.
She also pointed out manual irrigators were ''highly inefficient'' in midsummer, losing 80-90% of water through evaporation.
Ms Stokes said if residents felt Allenby Park should have a higher level of irrigation, they could put that view forward in a submission to the council's long-term plan, which would be out for public consultation at the end of March.
The council's reserve management plan lists Allenby Park as a junior sports field, and Mr Smith said it was the only one of 10 sports fields he had visited in the district that was ''completely dry and brown''.
All the others appeared watered and cared for.
''The treatment of this sports ground is completely inconsistent with similar grounds in the district.''
Mr Smith said he and other residents were trying to borrow a K-Line system to water the park themselves, but remained ''very disappointed'' with the council's approach to the issue.
