Petition to stop Christchurch water bottling plant attracts thousands of signatures

December 12, 2017

Critics say it's taking a resource that's already in trouble offshore, for free.

More than 11,000 people have signed an online petition to stop a water bottling plant in Christchurch from taking more than four million litres of aquifer water a day.

Mineral water company Cloud Ocean Water, whose major shareholder is Chinese-owned Ling Hai Group, is preparing to operate in the the former Kaputone Wool Scour in Belfast.

The petition organiser, Genevieve Robinson, says by using a 20-year-old permit originally granted to the land's former owner, Kaputone, the Chinese-owned enterprise could remove up to 4.32 million litres per day, or 1.5 billion litres per annum, of ground water, for bottling.

The consent was transferred from the plant's previous owner to Cloud Ocean Water in May.

"Under the historic permit, it is able to obtain these massive quantities of water, for next to no cost," Ms Robinson states on petition website change.org.

"Aquifer water is a precious resource. In the Canterbury area, bore holes drilled at a depth of around 30 metres, is the only way to obtain a continuous ground water supply. Once depleted, these precious water supplies, cannot be replenished.

"Due to the region’s impending water restrictions, it's also a gross waste of such a vital resource - water is already limited within the Canterbury area."

The petition, aiming for 15,000 signatures, urges Environment Canterbury's consent planning managers "to revoke this historic permit from the current land-occupier". 

"An historic permit, such as this - to obtain such vast quantities of water (the equivalent use to that of 10,000-12,000 people per day), should be non-transferable," Ms Robinson wrote.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ruled out a water export tax last week,  but the government says it's looking at alternatives, such as tariffs and sales royalties.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week, "It's early days but I have seen some initiatives that will help us achieve our outcome of at least New Zealand getting some benefit from the export of bottled water without breaching our trade agreements."

SHARE ME

More Stories