Two Napier mayoral candidates want to de-chlorinate water

Chris Tremain says he will examine de-chlorination options if he becomes mayor. Photo / File

Napier mayoral candidate Chris Tremain says if he is successful he will look into options to remove chlorine from the water.

"Today I am announcing that drinking water is my number one priority and that I have a plan to address it if I am elected as Napier mayor in October of this year," he told Hawke's Bay Today.

He said his first step would be to establish a Napier mayoral taskforce on drinking water, with councillors, the council CEO, a representative of Mana Ahuriri, and up to three members of the Napier community.

"The taskforce will commission an expert report, which considers solutions from across the globe, to remove sludge and chlorine from our water supply."

"The taskforce will then report back to council and the community with options and preferred solutions."

He acknowledged there was already work happening around fixing Napier's dirty water problem, but would look into options of speeding up this process.

"Quite simply, sludge in our water is unacceptable."

He said he wanted to see an unchlorinated water supply for Napier, but public health needed to be front and centre.

"I propose that no stone be left unturned in researching the alternative solutions, and in understanding the cost and timeframe of implementing those solutions."

Examining de-chlorination is something mayoral candidate Kirsten Wise has been pushing while on council. Photo / File

It is the first policy announcement from the Tremain campaign, which launched last week.

The announcement means two major mayoral candidates both want alternatives to water chlorination examined.

Candidate Kirsten Wise has been one of the current councillors pushing for alternatives to be looked at, and last week issued a challenge to Tremain, asking him where he stood on specific issues, including chlorine and council "vanity projects" like its proposed $41m aquatic centre.

At a meeting in June, councillors voted to commission a report looking into options to remove chlorine from the water.

They also voted to invite Christchurch City Council water supply improvement manager and Canterbury medical officer of health to Napier to discuss their experiences removing chlorine from the water supply, which was added as a recommendation by Wise.

Currently three candidates have announced their plans to stand for mayor of Napier - Tremain, Wise and King of Swords manager David Hannay.