In the face of a potentially hefty bill from their local council, a retired Lake Tarawera couple face a hard choice.
Can they afford to keep their home?
More than 400 property owners may need to pay Rotorua Lakes Council up to $42,000 to be connected to a new sewerage scheme.
Owen Dawe told Breakfast this morning: "We never had a sewerage system as so, everybody was on septic tanks.
"There was a lot of worry about pollution seeping into the lakes – and particularly this one, which they always deemed as the jewel in the crown of the lakes. So they commenced putting sewerage systems in the other lakes and we're now the last," he said.
The council said the project aims to protect the lake for future generations.
Lake Tarawera Community Group president Fred Stevens agreed the work needs to be done.
"It's not the fact that we don't want the system, it's more the cost of the system," he said.
Stevens wants Dawe and other community members to have the option of paying the sum in instalments.
"It's not just me," Dawe said. "There are quite a few retired people down here."
He's concerned that the project could come in over budget: "We just can't afford to pay it.
"So a lot of us are saying, 'Well it looks like we will have to sell up'.
"Not many people have got that sort of money, and what money we have got saved up – particularly those of our age – is saved up in case we get sick," Dawe added later.
Stevens said the exact figure still hadn't been finalised and people are concerned about the uncertainty.
"Effectively, they're asking us to give them an open chequebook," he said.
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