A group of Wanaka landowners would be reassured the council would protect their rights to an unrestricted water supply, in accordance with an Environment Court ruling, the Queenstown Lakes District Council's infrastructure committee agreed this week.
The group would also not be required to pay any further capital costs to extend the Wanaka water supply area, if that was needed in the future, the committee decided.
The committee also resolved to extend the boundary of the Wanaka water supply area to a group of about 12 Poplar Beech subdivision landowners being supplied by the Corbridge Downs Water Supply.
The boundary will also now cover Wanaka Airport, which is supplied by a separate bore. However, applicants for new connections would be required to pay the cost of connecting, the committee resolved.
New connections would be restricted to receiving 2.1cu m a property a day, as prescribed by the Otago Regional Council in a recently issued resource consent decision.
The committee also resolved to fully inform the existing landowners about the water supply project and reassure them their Environment Court rights were protected.
Cr Lyal Cocks, the committee chairman, said the Corbridge landowners had made it clear to him they wanted confidence of supply.
If the council could not provide the water, it could be taken to court, he said.
The council created the Corbridge scheme several years ago to protect the existing landowners' water supply from risks from effluent discharges from Wanaka's wastewater plant, Project Pure.
The Environment Court permitted them to receive 80cu m of water a day, with a further 80cu m available if required.
Cr Cocks said there were rumours Project Pure did not have enough water and the council would have to put down another bore.
Further, some on the Corbridge scheme had reported fluctuations in supply.
The manager of 3 Waters, Gerry Essenberg, said those seeking new connections would be subject to the Otago Regional Council restrictions and future capital costs.
If more new connections were needed than could be supplied, the council would have to put down another bore, he said.
"But there is more water under the ground if we need more water," Mr Essenberg said.
Although Project Pure used a lot of water, it would probably use less in the future, not more, he said.
Supply fluctuations were caused by engineering issues.
If there were more users on the scheme, the pumps would work more consistently, he said.
Mr Essenberg also explained the Otago Regional Council resource consent decision was inconsistent with the Environment Court ruling, as far as the Corbridge group was concerned, and an amendment would be sought.
Mr Essenberg said the Corbridge group's unrestricted access to water could be monitored.
"At present, there's plenty of water there for everybody who wants to use it," he said.
