Clyde could be the answer to Alexandra's water woes.
The ''most promising'' site as a new water source for Alexandra residents appears to be next to the bore which is the source of the Clyde water supply.
The Central Otago District Council agreed at its meeting on Wednesday to spend $190,000 on two trial bores to examine the feasibility of supplying Alexandra from Lake Dunstan, near the Clyde water intake.
Alexandra residents have complained for many years about the hardness of the water and the level of lime scale. The town has one source of domestic water, bores on the bank of the Clutha River near Eclipse St, near a closed landfill and beside some old coal workings.
The supply has to be improved to meet national drinking water standards and feedback was recently sought on two options for the upgrade, ranging in cost from $8.5 million to $14.5 million.
The council has spent six years investigating various options to improve water quality and decided in May to set aside $14.5 million in its long-term plan to find a new water source with less lime and to ''ultimately'' provide treatment to meet national drinking water standards.
Council development engineer Peter Morton told the council yesterday the cost of the trial bores at Clyde had increased from the original estimate of $110,000, but the scope of the investigation had changed.
''It's clear the best site is in the Clyde area, next to the existing bore. No other site is as promising as that one,'' Mr Morton said. ''We're looking for the most favourable site, as we're looking at a long-term investment here.''
Cr Clair Higginson said her concern about both Alexandra and Clyde drawing their water from the same source was the risk ''if something goes wrong, everyone [Alexandra and Clyde] has no water''.
Mr Morton said the water source was fundamentally lake water so there were no worries about the volume available. Nothing would be done that could jeopardise Clyde's water supply, he said. A bore at the Alexandra Golf Course had been suggested as a potential supply, but council infrastructure services manager Jon Kingsford said water from that bore did not comply with the national drinking water standards.
Cr Martin McPherson pointed out water hardness was the greatest concern for many Alexandra residents, including the majority of the 255 people who made submissions on the proposed upgrade of the supply.
