Titri Rd resident Margaret Kilpatrick said she and her partner had been plagued by issues with water quality and supply continually since they moved in three years ago.
"It’s just been issue after issue after issue.
"We’re on a new subdivision here, and it seems the council went ahead and approved considerable development right across Waihola without planning the necessary infrastructure in advance.
"We wake up with metallic tastes in our mouths.
"You have to boil water for even the slightest thing like brushing teeth or watering a plant, and we had to buy in masses of bottled water for 17 people this Christmas.
"We feel pushed to the kerb and at the end of our rope."
Resident Ben Leigh shared pictures of his heavily-stained water filters with the Otago Daily Times.
"I have to replace them after about seven months, even though they’re rated for 12.
"Despite the double filtration unit, the water still has a green tinge to it and an earthy smell.
"The thing that upsets me is the only reason I pay for these filters is to minimise the contamination in the water supplied to our house — the same water that we’ve already paid for in our rates.
Clutha District Council service delivery group manager Jules Witt said a boil water notice had been in place for North Bruce, including Waihola, since April 6 last year, and was unlikely to be lifted soon.
The measure was a result of low residual chlorine at some sample points, Mr Witt said.
"[It’s] mainly at the Titri Rd end of the distribution network.
"The supply does not consistently meet current drinking water standards for protozoal and bacterial measures."
He said one possibility was the installation of a secondary chlorination system at Waihola itself.
"We have engaged an ... engineer to assist with development of a sustainable solution to make improvements at the plant.
"With a cost of circa $150,000 for this system, and the likelihood of this being redundant when the Milton to Waihola pipeline is commissioned, a request for funding has not yet been put to council ... "
The pipeline and associated reservoir work, at a cost of $6 million, would be completed this year, and "improve supply resilience", Mr Witt said.
He said work under way on a new, $13m bore at Greenfield would remove the need to boil water on a further two schemes (Waitahuna and Evans Flat), and was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Lawrence would also be supplied by the new bore.
