Politics and science aims to shut down water bottling giant

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

More than one billion litres of water could be bottled and shipped to China from Otakiri Springs.

A Chinese-owned water bottling company's bid to bottle three million litres of drinking water each day from a Bay of Plenty spring has come under fire from iwi for being against tangata whenua.

Complainants argued a lack of research into the long term effects of drawing millions of litres per day from the Otakiri Springs, the environmental impact of increased plastic bottles and breaches to tangata whenua should see the proposal rejected.

The proposed upgraded bottling plant at Otakiri Springs which will see more than one billion bottles of water produced each year.

Cresswell NZ Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese bottling giant Ngonfu Spring, applied to draw one billion, 100 million litres bottles per year litres of water from the springs, of which most would be exported to China.

The current owners of Otakiri Springs have a resource consent to bottle just 2 million litres per year.

* Chinese company aims to sell 580 million litres of NZ water a year

* ECan accused of bending consent rules**

A joint application in opposition from Ngai Tamawera hapu, Te Tawera hapu and Tuwakairora argued fresh water has an important cultural value for tangata whenua and was an essential ingredient for life.

'This can be polluted and damaged by actions not part of the natural realm such as removal for the purposed of bottling for foreign exchange,' they submitted.

'This action directly antagonises the intentions of section 6e of the Resource Management Act being, The relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands.'

The cultural impact iwi would suffer was told through the oral history of the springs dating back to the legendary Ngati Awa chief Iratumoana, who is said to have created the springs.

'The great chief Iratumoana and his children life-force are imbued in this sprint therefore their spiritual mauri is one with the spring and with their descendants.

'The application does not reflect the treaty namely taking into the account of principals of Waitangi, recognising tangata whenua have rights protected.

However, the argument was not entirely cultural with concerns being raised about the unknown impact drawing more than three million litres per day will cause on the aquifer.

'There is no science to demonstrate that the proposed intensity of water bottling operation will be sustainable to meet foreseeable needs of future generations.

'There is no guarantee the mauri will be protected.'

The cultural argument was supported by scientific evidence from other tribes.

Ngati Tuwharetoa's senior resource Jaime Quinao called for greater monitoring data from the application to avoid contamination.

'We maintain our concern over the unintended consequencess to the aquifer that are not yet identified due to the large scale take of 5,000,000 litres per day [the maximum daily take permissible in a 24-hour period],' he said.

'Groundwater and geothermal systems are dynamic, complex and inherently uncertain.'

Quinao said the best way to alleviate concerns would be to improve this level of uncertainty through conceptual modelling through a robust study.

'The applicant should be able to prove, given the range of reasonable aquifer uncertainties, that a sustained take of this level for 25 years [the length of the consent] has no more than minor effect on the ara. In addition, baseline monitoring of the surrounding bore wells.'

The application received 125 submissions with the majority (72) in support, or supported with conditions, and 53 opposed.

Those in support saw economic benefits from increased jobs for the regions, while those against saw environmental issues and potential contamination of the aquifer as issues needing to be addressed.

The resource consent hearing will conclude on Wednesday, with a final decision expected before the end of May