An Alexandra group is pushing ahead with a plan to bring a community heating scheme to the area to clear the air of log-burner smoke.
Alexandra-based research company Bodeker Scientific was last year investigating the technical feasibility of using the Clutha River as a potential source of energy for a district heating scheme.
It could use water-sourced heat pump technology to extract heat from the river, generating enough to supply a small town such as Alexandra.
At an Otago Regional Council annual plan hearing in the town yesterday, Russell Garbutt said he was part of an informal group which wanted to bring the ``low cost, environmentally friendly, community energy to the Alexandra-Clyde basin''.
It requested $2000 from the council to pursue gaining a charitable status and seek further funding and research.
``We think we've got the solution to a long-running problem.''
Pioneer Energy chief executive Fraser Jonker was also involved in the discussions, he said.
Bodeker Scientific research scientist Jono Conway said the only way to make Alexandra meet air quality standards was to remove the reliance on household wood fires.
``The capacity of Clutha River to provide heat is very large. It has a large volume and even though it's quite cold, it holds a lot of heat.''
The scheme could give the towns ``starry nights and crisp clear mornings'', he said.
Such schemes were proven overseas, but there were none in New Zealand so far.
The Otago Water Resource Users Group submitted at the hearing regarding the regional council setting minimum flows in the Manuherikia River.
Its legal adviser, Christine Lanham, said it wanted the council to agree to not reset any minimum flows in the river which were already set by the Environment Court.
It also wanted the council to undertake a water security and economic impact analysis detailing how each minimum flow would affect irrigators in different seasons.
Guardians of Lake Dunstan chairman Andrew Burton urged the council to fund the control of weed in Lake Dunstan.
It had a legal responsibility to control lagarosiphon, he said.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said this was not the case, and Land Information New Zealand, as the landowner, was the lead agency on that issue.
