The council received 808 submissions.
Among those was one from the Guardians of the Aquifer, whose spokesperson, Pauline Doyle, asked why ratepayers would agree to a rates increase when there was the prospect that chlorination would be an ongoing permanent treatment of the city's drinking water.
She called for Napier City Council to organise a public referendum on the issue.
"Unlike Havelock North, in Napier our bore heads are in a contained aquifer and are artesian water. It seems to us, in using chlorine to protect public health, our council has unwittingly ended up undermining the health of the public who you are representing."
She cited cases of people suffering bad health reactions to the chlorine, including skin conditions, and called for the council to write to the Local Government Minister urging the Government not to introduce mandatory chlorination of municipal water supplies.
She also asked that the council demonstrate that its bores were secure, and called for chlorine-free water taps so locals did not have to travel to Hastings for de-chlorinated water.
As part of the consultation, the council asked if Napier ratepayers were in favour of four de-chlorinated water stations being installed, either user-pays or funded through rates.
Thirty-three per cent of submitters rejected the idea of water stations, while 24 per cent supported four rates-funded stations, and 22 per cent favoured four user-pays stations.
Submitter Margaret Gwynn said she did not support any of the water station options because she did not want Napier's water chlorinated in the first place.
"Unlike the Havelock North situation, Napier's water comes from a confined aquifer. I accept that pipes needed to be cleaned, the reservoirs improved and the bore heads lifted above ground, but now that this work has been done, there is no need to regularly chlorinate the water supply," she said.
The view was echoed by submitter Kay Foley, who added the council had not given residents any viable alternative to chlorination.
"We do not have to chlorinate just because other cities have to - a lot of Napier people are now feeling forced to buy drinking water in plastic bottles and soon we will need more recycling and landfill space for those.
"I ask council to be brave and courageous - sometimes the hardest decisions bring the greatest rewards."
Resident Craig Morley also spoke to his submission in support of installing rates-funded de-chlorinated water stations, but said the first and preferred option would be for safe non-chlorinated drinking water.
He noted that such stations would use commercially rated equipment, including UV treatment to remove giardia and cryptosporidium, and came with regular monitoring and maintenance, making them safer than filtering units people used in their homes.
The consultation on de-chlorinated water stations, which council officers recommended not be installed following the public feedback, was one of five main items being considered in the Long-Term Plan.
To the question of the Napier Aquatic Centre development, staff recommended proceeding with the proposed 25m x 25m pools and play option at Prebensen Drive, and that the council go ahead with 12 proposed Ahuriri estuary masterplan projects.
Officers also recommended that $10.2 million in the LTP be allocated towards expanding the National Aquarium of New Zealand and that the council be enabled to sell non-strategic leasehold land on a case by case basis.
Councillors will deliberate on the submissions today and tomorrow, before adopting the final Long-Term Plan on June 29.
