More than 100 Lake Hawea residents who attended a meeting at the weekend to express their opposition to chlorine being added to the town’s water supply permanently were told "it may happen anyway".
Queenstown Lakes District Council chief engineer Ulrich Glasner said the contamination of Havelock North’s water supply in August was "a trigger" for a lot of councils and district health boards to take steps to ensure drinking water was safe.
A government inquiry was launched after more than 5000 Havelock North residents fell ill with gastroenteritis following the discovery of E. coli in the water. The inquiry is set to bring down its findings at the end of March and Mr Glasner said it could recommend it be compulsory for all councils to chlorinate water supplies.
He said a month after the Havelock North emergency, the QLDC received a letter from the Southern District Health Board recommending measures not previously considered necessary, such as chlorination, be introduced to the water supply across the region. In December, the QLDC began chlorinating Lake Hawea’s water supply "to make sure it was safe for residents and visitors to the area during the summer peak period," Mr Glasner said.
Many of the 106 residents who attended the meeting complained the QLDC was overreacting to the Havelock North event, was not consultative enough and did not listen to what the residents wanted.
Resident Mr Jeremy Van Riel said the argument for putting chlorine into the town’s water as a precaution was similar to "us having to wear hard hats in our house in case something happened".
Other residents were concerned about the potential long-term health effects of chlorine.
Deputy Mayor Calum McLeod, who attended the meeting, said both the World Health Organisation and district health boards advocated chlorination to make water safe.
He said the Havelock North incident was a "gamechanger" but assured the residents the council would look at all options and consult before a final decision was made.
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All I could suggest to Lake Hawea residents is that if your water supply is chlorinated against your wishes then is to turn on every tap,valve,water outlet etc in your area and leave them all turned on until the source of your water runs dry, leave the taps etc turned on and keep the source dry. That will get your local authority going and take notice of you all! Best of luck Hawea residents, I sympathise with you over this.