Sam Sharpe has been trying to get the council to fix the leaking toby outside his home in Langham Tce, Northeast Valley, for a month, but the council has refused, saying it is his responsibility.
This week, Mr Sharpe said he and his neighbours had all received a "threatening" letter from the council, warning them a water restriction device could be installed if the leak was not fixed by October 26.
Mr Sharpe said the council appeared to be trying to turn his neighbours against him by including them in the mail drop.
"I think it's pretty mean-spirited," he said.
One neighbour was overseas, while a second had already urged him to continue his protest. He was yet to speak to the third - a family with a young child.
Despite that, he would be "sticking to my guns" for now, he said.
The toby - a type of water shut-off valve between private water pipes and council-owned mains - is on a private pipe connecting the city's water supply to Mr Sharpe's home.
But the toby was under a private right-of-way not owned by him or any of the other residents, and which the council now considered to be abandoned land.
Mr Sharpe believed the cost of the simple repair job should be covered by his rates, especially as the council would have to send out a contractor anyway, to shut off the water for the plumber.
A council spokeswoman did not answer questions from the Otago Daily Times, saying instead the letter was "our standard response" and in line with the council's water bylaw.
Council 3 Waters group manager Tom Dyer, speaking last week, said the toby was owned by Mr Sharpe "even though it's not on his property", and the council was "not responsible for work on private infrastructure".
The letter from the council said the toby was on the private water service supplying four homes, including Mr Sharpe's, and it was "an issue that needs to be attended to" by the residents.
"You may need to engage a plumber to carry out this work," it said.
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Comments
The usual DCC arrogance...Always busy fighting ratepayers and looking for ways to avoid responsibility. So quick to give the usual response of "If we did it for you, we'd have to do it for everyone"...Which is of course, complete rubbish.
Hey DCC..? Why not just put on your big boy pants and send out a contractor to fix this minor issue? The money you spend fighting this guy will surpass the repair cost anyway!...But the money isn't really the issue is it? You guys just have to be right, every time!
The DCC staff time taken to argue the point over this would have been much better (and more cheaply) put to use fixing the problem.