A group of Lake Hawea residents hopes to gather enough support to put pressure on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to stop using chlorine in the town's water supply.
The issue was raised at the Hawea Community Association meeting at the Lake Hawea Community Centre last night, which was attended by members of the group..
Chlorination of the Lake Hawea water supply, as well as the water supplies in Arrowtown and Glendhu Bay, began last week after the council decided to treat the water supplies during summer.
A group called Hawea Stand for Pure Water has been formed to pressure the council to stop the chlorination of the Lake Hawea water supply immediately.
Spokeswoman Jennifer Rumore said the group had been formed because the wishes of the community had been ignored.
Ms Rumore said she appreciated the decision to chlorinate probably came from a desire to serve the community but the decision should be made by
the community, not council staff.
''I'm not usually a person to stir up a bees' nest but in this case I am going to have to, because I'm not sure our wishes will be listened to.''
Lake Hawea had already had millions of dollars spent on upgrades to an ultraviolet filtration system, which was what the community wanted, she said.
''Me and a lot of other concerned locals told council staff at the time we don't want chlorine in the water, we want the UV system, and in the end they haven't listened to us.''
Ms Rumore had written a letter to the council's chief executive, Mike Theelen, asking him to reconsider his decision, and had asked everyone she knew to do the same.
''This is one of the most important issues for people living in Lake Hawea and we're not going to go away until we have pure water again.''
When the water treatment programme was announced, Mr Theelen said it would be irresponsible of the council not to consider the permanent chlorination of all water supplies in the district.
Public Health South also supported the chlorination programme.
