The continued chlorination was labelled an "absolute travesty" by incumbent Napier MP Stuart Nash.
"It's wrong on every level, and not enough has been done to sort this out."
Although he understood why chlorine was initially added to the supply, "my understanding at the moment is there is no reason to have chlorine in our water systems. I'd urge the [HBDHB] to get it out of there, and to get us drinking fresh water".
"Putting chlorine in the water is not the answer, it's about having good infrastructure to deliver good fresh water to the residents of Napier," the Labour candidate said.
Given the high number of transgressions - this is the second time this year Napier's water has been chlorinated after positive E. Coli readings - the council has begun a series of planned improvements to the entire network, which was thought to take several years to deliver in full.
National candidate David Elliott said he thought the council should be working quickly on this, "given clean drinking water, and safe drinking water is probably one of the most priority-driven things a council can do".
"I think people are getting a little bit frustrated by it all.
"Certainly when I've been around door-knocking that's what I'm getting. People are complaining about the smell, and some people are having reactions to it and they're saying, 'Why is it going on for so long'?"
For Green Party candidate Damon Rusden, the situation was a reaction to a "much larger problem which hasn't been addressed by central Government".
He believed the wider source of the problem was intensive farming, and water infrastructure. His party wanted a moratorium on dairy farms, and would ensure water infrastructure issues were addressed through their policy of returning water bottle levies to local councils.
"They can put that money into water infrastructure which won't solve the problem, but it will give them a lot more to work with which will speed up the process."
Democrats for Social Credit candidate Karl Matthys said he would prefer the water not be chlorinated, but felt the situation needed to be left "in the hands of the experts".
"If our local government decides it's better to do it, then it should be done."
Maori party candidate Maryanne Marsters said although she was "not a fan" of chlorine, with the number of recent E.Coli scares, people's health was the most important thing.
Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said although their "strong desire" was to return to a chlorine-free supply, they would not do so until the appropriate authorities said they could.
"At the end of the day part of our job is to mitigate risk. If we're going to absolutely mitigate risk we would have permanently chlorinated water, but we hope to be able to mitigate as much risk as possible, and get back to chlorine-free water."
He assured the roll of water infrastructure improvements was a priority for council.
Council chief executive Wayne Jack said the Havelock North inquiry had thrown a spotlight on water infrastructure.
"The goal posts have shifted and practices and infrastructure that were once considered acceptable are now being reassessed.
"We are fully committed to improving and maintaining our drinking water network to the best possible standard, with the aim of meeting all the requirements of the Drinking Water Standards by November, and regaining secure status for our bores."
With bore heads on the 10 bores across Napier below ground, the bore chambers will be modified in order to mitigate the risk of any pooling of water - which can be a potential source of bacterial contamination. In the longer term, the council will lift all bore heads above ground.
Testing points are also being upgraded to ensure that water taken for laboratory analysis is drawn from a secure point in the network and cannot be tainted during the sampling process.
HBDHB Medical Officer of Health Dr Nicholas Jones said they had initially agreed chlorination was needed to "protect public health whilst allowing further investigation of the infrastructure".
The HBDHB had since been informed by the council it had identified network maintenance needed so it could meet Drinking Water Standards of New Zealand criteria.
"Both organisations are working together agreeing that public safety must come first. In the meantime, chlorination will continue until maintenance is complete."
The 2017/2018, 4.9 per cent Napier rate rise included 1 per cent earmarked for water infrastructure costs, and improvements.
Some of these also related to anticipated recommendations from stage two of the Havelock North water contamination inquiry.
• A chlorine-free public tap is located at Pettigrew Green Arena.