In July, Mark Robertson told the Otago Daily Times Lawrence residents were becoming fed up with perceived Clutha District Council inaction over fixing "basic essentials" in the town, including several water leaks.
He estimated the leaks — on upper Peel St and at the intersection of Whitehaven and Harrington Sts — were wasting "several litres" of drinking water each day, and questioned whether the council would accept similar wastage from ratepayers.
"This is now a good six months-plus since I and others first alerted the council to the issue.
If I were to stick my hosepipe in the gutter this summer and leave it on 24/7, I suspect they might have something to say about it."
Mr Robertson questioned the competency of council contractors Citycare Water.
"If this were me, I’d take a good hard look at my contractor, and at those overseeing the process. It’s utterly useless."
Council service delivery group manager Jules Witt said most of the leaks highlighted by Mr Robertson in July had since been fixed.
However, he acknowledged delays in fixing some issues, including those identified yesterday.
"There were two remaining leaks that have not been resolved. [On Peel St] the source has not been able to be identified and we intend to engage specialist leak detection contractors to assist with this. The other leak is from a valve at the corner of Whitehaven and Harrington Sts and an attempt to repair this has been made and was not successful. This valve is now programmed for complete replacement."
Mr Witt said the council was working with Citycare to improve service.
"The length of time to resolve many leaks do not meet the contractual timeframes. This is ... an issue that we are working on with our contractor."
