Council puts Lake Ohau water upgrade on hold — for now

A PLANNED water supply upgrade for Lake Ohau has been put on hold.

At an extraordinary meeting of the council yesterday, councillors moved in favour of delaying the Lake Ohau water supply upgrade so further consultation could take place with Lake Ohau Alpine Village residents.

Councillors Melanie Tavendale, Guy Percival, Jim Hopkins, Jan Wheeler, Hugh Perkins, Jeremy Holding, Colin Wollstein and Bill Kingan voted for the recommendation.

However, Craig Dawson criticised the move.

‘‘It’s gone on for years and it’s time we got on and made the decision.’’

The council had ‘‘already spent $80,000 on consultation’’ and he was concerned that figure would continue to grow while the project was left on the table.

A further recommendation moved by Mr Hopkins, seconded by Mrs Tavendale, sought to delay the decision until there had been further engagement with the community and all funding options for significant water upgrades in small communities were considered.

That was also met with criticism by Mr Dawson, who said it would be ‘‘unjust’’ for ratepayers outside the Lake Ohau area to pay for the project.

At a council meeting last month, a delegation of the Lake Ohau Alpine Village Residents and Ratepayers Association led by Phil Driver called on the council’s assets committee to recognise ‘‘major flaws’’ in its staff’s recommendations and for the committee to recommend the existing water source as viable.

Calling for an upgrade that could provide 352,000 litres per day was unnecessary for the small village, he said.

Upgrading works were scheduled for the 202021 financial year.