Councillor Pushes Chlorine Free Napier Water

Napier City Councillor Annette Brosnan has today made a stand against the permanent chlorination of Napier’s water.

The Napier City Councils Annual plan deliberations were held today at the Napier War Memorial Centre. The meeting became fiery during the water discussion with members of the public interrupting and causing a disruption, Councillors were asked to leave the room.

Councillor Annette Brosnan later moved a new motion on the city’s drinking water, to have an independent assessment of the option to remove chlorine undertaken.

Brosnan said “Council never got a chance to decide to ‘permanently chlorinate’, it was forced upon us after an extraordinary contamination event and in my view, after 2 years, our time has come to push back and make the decision for ourselves”

The motion was in contract to the staffs report with ongoing permanent chlorination and an accompanying education programme.

“In this chlorine debate there is a big unknown - weather the government will leave the door open to an unchlorinated water supply or not, if they do then we owe it to consider that option in a robust way” Councillor Brosnan said.

Brosnan passed a motion that:

Confirms Water is Councils number 1 priority
Council commission an independent options and costings assessment report for the supply of un-chlorinated water for Napier and
Council seek expressions of interest for the preparation of this report, and that the selection of the consultant be done by full Council.

In speaking to the motion Councillor Annette Brosnan said “my motion is exactly what the community are asking for in their submissions, to seriously look into removing chlorine. The first step in making a permanent decision on chlorine is getting independent advice on what our options and costs are. The second step is putting those figures in front of the community, and letting them choose if it’s affordable for them”

After Councillor Brosnans debate, the motion was unanimously supported by Council. Councillor Wise seconded Brosnans motion and also moved Christchurch City Council and DHB staff be invited to speak with Council .

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