A recommendation the Queenstown Lakes District Council should defer a decision on whether to permanently chlorinate water supplies in areas not already subject to permanent chlorination has been welcomed by residents’ associations.
Councillors will today vote to adopt the annual plan in which it has been recommended that "in direct response to community submissions on the matter", the council seeks "additional information" before making a decision. Lake Hawea Community Association chairman Paul Cunningham said he was "very pleased" the council was going to have further studies on chlorinating the Lake Hawea water supply.
Luggate Community Association chairman Graeme Perkins said there was hope the QLDC had not completely disregarded the local community’s feelings. He hoped the additional information the council sought was "alternatives to chlorination".
Glenorchy Community Association chairwoman Niki Gladding congratulated the council for not going ahead with blanket chlorination of all water supplies.
She said she would attend the council meeting this morning and ask for clarity on the eventual decision-making process and whether the community would be involved.
She would also be insisting the council looked at the risks for not chlorinating each separate water supply.
Arrowtown, Arthurs Point, Glenorchy, Hawea and Luggate water supplies are not subject to permanent chlorination, although temporary chlorination of the Hawea, Glendhu Bay and Arrowtown supplies went ahead over the summer. This followed the advice of public health officials who were concerned about the potential for a contamination scenario like that in which more than 5000 people became ill in Havelock North in 2016.
Communities in Luggate, Lake Hawea, Arrowtown and Glenorchy are opposed to chlorination of their water supplies.
The annual plan said the district council was seeking to better understand the risks associated with non-chlorination of water supplies, the liability of staff and councillors if the decision is not to chlorinate, the risk of contamination through "back flow" and what future proofing of supplies were scheduled.
The council has set aside $500,000 for chlorination but QLDC deputy mayor Calum MacLeod said the allocation of money did not mean chlorination would necessarily go ahead.
"The reason is if the advice is to chlorinate and we have not money in the plan, by default we can’t do it."
He said if the council voted against chlorinating the water supplies, the money would be used for other purposes or deferred to the next annual plan.
QLDC chief engineer Ulrich Glasner said a paper was being drafted for councillors by infrastructure staff looking at the options. Once completed, the paper would be circulated to councillors before they made a decision on permanent chlorination.
