Speaking at a community forum before yesterday's council meeting in Dunedin, Mr Anderson, accompanied by Ralph de Clifford, said many council ratepayers were ''not happy'' with a lack of council commitment over water quality in the lake.
The weed had the potential to ''turn this lake into a rotting mess'', and was a ''big deterrent to recreation''.
''Skiers don't like skiing through it, swimmers can't swim through it.''
It was also ''an eyesore in an otherwise beautiful environment'' and all around Old Cromwell, in the Cornish Point area, he said.
The lookout point on the Alexandra-Cromwell road provided one of the best views of Cromwell, but the lake edges looked so bad people were ''making choices that don't help Cromwell'', by moving on to Wanaka or Queenstown.
Mr de Clifford urged councillors to come to Cromwell and view the problem, preferably within a month.
Clutha Fisheries trustee Murray Neilson and Dan Rae, who are both Otago Fish and Game councillors, also made submissions supporting the priorities of an agreed collaborative management plan for the lake.
Mr Neilson agreed with measures to keep weed away from some key areas but said the council's main spending priorities should remain the region-wide requirements of the Water Plan and support for replacing deemed water permits.
Cr Michael Laws, who has championed increased council spending to counter exotic invasive weeds in Otago lakes and waterways, welcomed the petition as ''a manifestation of community concern''.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead ''absolutely'' denied the suggestion that the council was not doing enough, and said the responsibility primarily lay with Land Information New Zealand (Linz) as the owner of the lake bed, and also with the land occupier, Contact Energy.
Mr Woodhead noted Linz and Contact Energy had each provided $50,000 annually towards control of the weed.
Linz had also undertaken to provide a further $50,000.
He hoped Contact Energy would put in further funds.
The council had said it would provide $25,000 in the lake, including to reduce the potential for the weed to be spread to other areas, such as Lake Wakatipu, which did not already have it.
He and several other councillors had been in the Cromwell area recently, and there could well be scope for a further visit, such as when the council's new long-term plan was being developed, he said.
