A new water supply for Alexandra is likely after the Vincent Community Board this week decided not to improve the existing borefield site.
The decision follows a report from URS consultants, of Christchurch, which said re-engineering of the borefield would be unlikely to remove the scaling tendency of the water and recommended against developing the site.
A site just north of the existing one was identified in the report to be investigated as a possible replacement.
Central Otago District Council development engineer Peter Morton said it was unknown how much an investigation would cost. He estimated it could be "tens of thousands of dollars", which would be inside the council's budget.
The current supply, which is sourced from six bores on the true left bank of the Clutha River, has an E grading and produces problems with hardness and scaling as well as taste and odour issues.
This year, trials to reduce lime scale were done on about 100 homes and Mr Morton said he was surprised with the "underwhelming" outcome of the technology on Alexandra water. Only 11% of the people involved in the trials thought the water quality had improved.
The board decided to continue investigations to meet the compliance of drinking water standards and scale reduction because it considered those issues were of high importance to residents.
