You'd think the man defending water chlorination in Christchurch would be running for the Port Hills but when it comes to political crises John Pfahlert has been there, done that.

The Christchurch City Council is in damage control five months into a controversial move to chlorinate the city's water supply, which left residents seething.

With seven months left on the original 12-month repair timeframe voted on by council in January this year, it appears upgrades are yet to begin on all 102 of the well heads requiring one. Chlorination was started to keep residents safe until the work was completed.

CRAIG SIMCOX/FAIRFAX NZ Pfahlert happened to be the oil industry spokesman when the Rena container ship grounded near Tauranga in 2011.

The head of the group that campaigned for chlorination in Christchurch and New Zealand, Water New Zealand's (WNZ) chief executive Pfahlert, remains adamant about the need for chlorination, even after latest upsets.

The non–profit organisation, which represents 1900 water treatment specialists across New Zealand – including water treatment companies – has "put its stake in the ground". All of New Zealand's public water supplies, without exception, must be chlorinated, it says.

READ MORE:

* Council indicates no Christchurch well heads have been upgraded after drinking water compromised

* The South Island towns (and city) fighting chlorinated drinking water

* Christchurch City Council making slow progress on repairing 102 well heads

* Water expert sacked from city council contract after raising concerns over public health

* Christchurch water supply 'at risk' from unmonitored bores

* Christchurch mayor wants chlorination levels reduced after public outcry

* Christchurch drinking water to be chlorinated for a year as councillors approve plan to keep it safe

SUPPLIED Pfahlert navigated the oil industry through significant political opposition to deep sea oil drilling.

Pfahlert's push for fluoridation and chlorination nationwide has been unrelenting since he took over Water New Zealand in 2015. It's part of his new game for the organisation. Pfahlert has steered the previously lower-profile organisation from fighting for the privatisation of council water management assets to a new existence as a technical advisory group.

"They (Water New Zealand) had been at this dialogue for about a decade and it got us absolutely nowhere. The first thing I did was stop doing something that's clearly not working. No one's interested in talking to us about local government reform."

One of his first acts was to push for compulsory fluoridation of all of New Zealand's water supplies, citing an Australian scientific report that confirmed the dental benefits of fluoridation. In September Pfahlert welcomed the High Court's decision to throw out an anti–flouride group's bid to have fluoride declassified as a medicine under the Medicines Act.

MARTY SHARPE/STUFF The Mangateretere Stream outside Havelock North, where the 2016 outbreak began.

Just one year into his job at WNZ, Pfahlert had to deal with New Zealand's largest public health crisis in decades.

In August 2016, more than 5000 people in Havelock North fell ill, following the confirmation of the presence of E. coli in the water supply. Water New Zealand was invited by the government to become one of ten core participants in the consequent Havelock North Inquiry.

Within days Pfahlert was promoting nationwide chlorination as a means of preventing another outbreak like that in Havelock North.

Gold mining machinery in the Karangahake Gorge in the Coromandel, where Pfahlert pushed for mining rights in the 1990s.

These big events seem to be a recurring theme in Pfahlert's career.

When the issue of exported bottled water hit the headlines in 2017, Pfahlert was pushing for a national discussion on a water pricing regime.

By August 2017 Pfahlert was arguing that Christchurch water needed to be chlorinated. The Christchurch City Council rolled out chlorination from March this year.

ANDY JACKSON/FAIRFAX NZ John Pfahlert talks about fracking at a public meeting in 2011 when he was spokesman for the oil industry.

WHZ allegedly put pressure on South Island councils to chlorinate their water supplies during the organisation's roadshow at the beginning of the year.

Ixom, the company that won the chlorination contract for Christchurch, is a corporate member of Water New Zealand and sponsors the organisation's Operations Prize and the National Water Taste Test. Beca, another member, found some city wells were defective.

Pfahlert denied the organisation represented the interests of the water treatment industry and said the board decided the universal chlorination policy.

"We're not doing it to make money. There's no–one connected to our membership who stands to make a windfall gain. Maybe Ixom will sell a bit more chlorine but it's irrelevant to me."

This isn't Pfahlert's first rodeo.

Over the last 30 years, Pfahlert has had a knack for being, depending on who you ask, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pfahlert has been front and centre of some of New Zealand's most memorable political crises, despite not being a politician or an activist.

But Pfahlert enjoys his job and swears he is just lucky.

During the rows over gold mining in the Coromandel or fishing rights in the Auckland in the 90s, the leaky homes crisis in the early 2000s, spats over oil exploration, the Rena and Gulf of Mexico spill a few years later, as well as the latest politics over exported bottled water, fluoridation and chlorination, Pfahlert was there, speaking on behalf of those whom environmentalists would consider the "baddies."

Over the years he has been the go–to man for fishing, mining, building, oil and now water. He always seems to be in charge when his industry is under fire from politicians and the public. But Pfahlert says none of it was planned.

"It's just serendipitous. I've got the laid back style to deal with the thorny questions without getting too flustered by it, accepting that there are people who think differently."

In 1984 Pfahlert graduated as a Master of Geography from the University of Canterbury and says he has always been interested in natural resource development. He got a job with the Conservation Department before moving to the dark side as the representative for the Minerals Industry Association, a lobby group for mining interests who ironically wanted to mine on Department of Conservation land in the mid-1990s.

In March 1996 Pfahlert became the Fishing Industry Association boss. In that role he tried to stop the government from closing the Auckland squid fishery.

By 2000 Pfahlert appeared as the head of the Contractors Federation and then the first chairman of the newly formed New Zealand Construction Industry Council, a lobby group for the building industry.

One of his first jobs was to deflect the heat from the famous "leaky homes crisis" of the early 2000s when insufficient water-proofing on new homes led to between 40,000 and 90,000 homes requiring between $11b and $23b worth of repairs.

He argued for compulsory registration of builders and an overhaul of the Building Code. He fought for the dis–establishment of the construction regulatory body, the Building Industry Association. In April 2003 the government brought industry regulation in–house.

By August 2003 Pfahlert was head of the newly organised Building Industry Federation.

Just as construction and "cowboy builders" were slipping out of public view, Pfahlert slipped into yet another trouble–prone role. In 2006 Pfahlert became the executive officer of the now Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ).

So when New Zealand's oil rush began in the mid-2000s and oil exploration permits were being dished out in all directions, Pfahlert was again Johnny–on–the–spot.

He says it made for an interesting personal life where even friends have occasionally taken a dim view of what he does for a living.

In its twilight years Helen Clark's government began a push towards renewable energy and carbon neutrality. Pfahlert argued those targets were unrealistic and costly.

Pfahlert urged calm following the Gulf Oil spill in the United States in 2010, an event which inspired the Greens to push for a ban on deep sea drilling. At a Greenpeace protest in Taranaki, protesters swam in front of an exploration vessel to prevent it from continuing a survey of the area.

In perfectly bad timing for the oil industry, New Zealand had its own oil spill when the Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga.

But Pfahlert didn't see it that way. In his tongue-and-cheek style Pfahlert penned an opinion piece highlighting the dangers of shipping.

"The Rena is evidence that the greatest risk posed to the New Zealand maritime environment comes from coastal shipping, not oil exploration. Yet no-one calls for a moratorium on shipping," he wrote at the time.

The bad oil news refused to stop. Fracking emerged as a political issue in 2011. Pfahlert argued tirelessly with protesters about the low risk of fracking.

The anti-fracking tide started retreating when Christchurch's Mayor Bob Parker asked the government for a moratorium on fracking in the Canterbury Basin and was rebuffed by the Government. By then, Pfahlert was gone – off on an extended break around the world, including riding his motorbike across Canada.

In 2015 Pfahlert returned to become the head honcho at Water New Zealand.

And just like that, oil receded from the political landscape to make way for the incoming tide of water issues.

It sounds a lot like lobby work but Pfahlert doesn't like to be known as a lobbyist. He says he is an advocate. The difference comes down to scientific evidence.

"At the end of the day we are trying to improve water quality and public health. If that's lobbying then fine, that's lobbying. We're not doing it to make money."

Pfahlert, who turns 60 this year, says he is on the "home straight" with representing organisations and plans to stick to water for another five years.

If his career follows its previous pattern, he can expect a wild ride over those twilight years.