How do you take your water - filtered, bottled or softened, or maybe with the addition of lime, bugs or worms?
Those were among the questions covered as the Central Otago District Council heard submissions yesterday on the proposed upgrade of the Alexandra water supply.
The council received 255 written submissions and 18 of those submitters asked to air their views in person to the council.
Alexandra residents have complained for many years about the hardness of the water and the level of limescale.
The town has one source of domestic water, bores on the bank of the Clutha River near Eclipse St, near a closed landfill and beside some old coal workings.
The supply has to be improved to meet national drinking water standards and feedback was sought on two options for the upgrade, ranging in cost from $8.5 million to $14.5 million.
The cheapest option was the minimum upgrade to meet the drinking water standards, using the existing site, but did not address limescale or taste issues. The more expensive option involved a new water source, which should address the other issues with the water.
Cr Clair Higginson, who is also the Vincent Community Board chairwoman, said the majority of submitters were saying ''let's do something and let's get it right''. Cr Martin McPherson said submitters had mostly opted for the more expensive option.
''They've said bite the bullet and get on with it.''
The council has yet to decide on a favoured option but will meet next week to discuss funding.
Otago regional councillor Gerry Eckhoff, speaking as a district ratepayer, said the drinking water standards were ''another example of urban standards being applied to a rural population, which cannot afford to do this.''
Although there were 5000 residents in the town, there were only 2000 ratepayers, he said.
The majority of the upgraded water would be used for irrigation, ''cleaning the car and doing the washing'', so he suggested instead of the upgrade, the council should find a source of top quality water and bottle it for sale to residents.
Former Alexandra borough councillor Daphne Hull, of Alexandra, said the debate about the town's water supply had spanned more than 140 years and it was time to address the problem.
Giving ratepayers a choice between a lump sum contribution or an amount calculated over a period of time was one way of repaying the cost of the project, she said. Ruth McNamara said an upgrade was well overdue.
She could remember when ''worms and small shellfish would come out of the tap into the bath and the kids would swim amongst it''.
Several submitters said if rates were increased to finance the project, it would deter people from moving to the town.
