Cr Laws recently emailed his colleagues and said that for the draft annual plan 2017-18 discussions, he wanted to ``advance a policy'' for the council to fund an ``academic chair'' in lakes and rivers.
This would have the ``enormous benefit of linking the council to an academic resource'' while encouraging continuing research into the lakes and rivers in the region.
An ``innovative'' Bay of Plenty Regional Council had already established, with Waikato University, a regional chair in lakes restoration.
That position provided a ``focal point for multidisciplinary environmental research'' to inform policy and practices that would support ``effective environmental outcomes''.
Given the ``issues confronting'' the Otago council over the next decade, establishing a university chair would be ``a wise investment in our environment''.
This would also bring benefits for the council, the university, the environment and the people of Dunedin and Otago, Cr Laws said.
``I can't see a loser in this.''
The council needed to and wanted to increase its knowledge of Otago's lakes, rivers and waterways.
And ``ordinary people'' in Otago continued to demand to have ``access to clean rivers and lakes''.
Water quality was a ``critical issue'' throughout Otago, and some lakes and waterways, including Lake Dunstan, with its lagarosiphon weed problems, were in ``dreadful'' condition, he said.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said council staff were already working collaboratively on aspects of lakes and rivers, including with Otago University staff involved with the Catchments Otago research theme.
His own view was there was scope to consider the ``possibility'' of a professorship mid next year, when the council's long-term plan was reviewed.
But other water-related work should first be undertaken in the financial year starting on July 1 this year, he said.
