Hundreds of concerned residents attended a meeting in Lake Hāwea this week to discuss the company’s fast-track referral application to lower lake levels from 338m to 336m above sea level.
Fears were raised over the damaging impacts on the Lake Hāwea aquifer, the potential rise in dust from shallower beaches and the threats posed to local biodiversity.
Guardians chairman Geoff Kernick said by the end of the meeting attendees were asking how they could contact local MPs to begin lobbying on the issue.
He also said discussions had begun with local lawyers about preparing for a fight through a substantive application.
However, he also said there was little to be done at this stage while the community waited for the results of the referral application.
"I think we’re still waiting to see what happens with the referral application," he said. "Apart from a little bit more lobbying, I don’t think there’s much else we can do."
At the meeting, Otago regional councillor Micheal Laws called on the community to come together to take on the "rapacious gentailer".
"I cannot stress enough to you this evening the danger that all of you and we are in as a community," he said. "We are going to need a campaign."
Cr Laws told the crowd to lobby local MPs and take the issue to central government, pledging his support throughout the process.
Queenstown Lakes district councillors Niki Gladding and Cody Tucker also promised their support as they questioned the priorities of the energy company.
"There is a real detrimental impact on water supply," Cr Tucker, a Lake Hāwea resident, said. "I would rather have water than lights on."
One of the most pressing issues was the impact this would have on the town’s aquifer.
The town is heavily dependent on bores which supply farms, households and Lake Hāwea Flat School with fresh water.
Hāwea Flat resident Meredith Smith, who is also part of a committee that helps run local water supply, said she was distressed by the risk that Contact Energy’s proposal posed on the community.
"I lose sleep at night worrying about whether we’re going to be able to supply the houses in our street with water if the bore runs dry," she said.
She referred to an Otago Regional Council report published two years ago that found that if the Lake Hāwea levels dropped below 330m below sea level there was a high risk to groundwater, which could lead to the widespread failure of bores.
At the meeting, Contact Energy Head of Hydro Generation Boyd Brindson said it was highly unlikely the company would ever need to drop lake levels below 330m above sea level.
And if the substantive application showed there was a serious risk, the project would be unlikely to proceed.
"We can’t deprive people of their drinking water but that’s not going to happen . . . if that issue can’t be resolved then this application won’t fly."
The project was for "the greater good" and would mean a decrease in power outages and less dependence on coal.
Waikato University Associate Prof Earl Bardsley, who is a proponent of a massive pumped hydro energy storage scheme at Lake Onslow, near Roxburgh, said the benefits gained from the Lake Hāwea project in no way justified the risks.
He was concerned about increased dust in the immediate environment as a result of shallower beaches dry-year.
"It is almost as if there is a sense of shaming the local people to live with occasional dust discomfort on a permanent basis, justified in the greater national interest of reducing emissions," he said.
Consideration of the fast-track application should be deferred until further investigations were made, he said.
Guardians of Lakes Manapouri, Monowai and Te Anau chairman Darryl Sycamore said dust exposed from shallower beaches could introduce "nuisance effects on surrounding landowners".
Mr Sycamore went further to say the community would need to garner support throughout the country, referencing the successful efforts made during the 1969 Save the Manapouri campaign.
In that campaign, almost 10% of New Zealanders signed a petition to stop the raising of that lake.
At present Contact Energy is able to lower Lake Hāwea an extra 2m in an emergency. As part of their application they want to extend their emergency allowance to 6m, meaning lake levels would drop to 330m above sea level.
