Taking water diminishes Blue Spring's mana, say local iwi

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

An application to take 6.9m litres per day from the Blue Spring near Putaruru is on hold.

Iwi concerns over water being drawn from Putaruru's Blue Spring have put an application to bottle billions of litres for export on hold as the election campaign continues to set the water debate boiling.

Raukawa, a South Waikato iwi, told told the Waikato Regional Council resource use directorate taking water directly from the spring would diminish the 'mauri, wairua and mana of Te Puna (The Spring)'.

NZ Pure wants to take 6.9 million litres of water per day for export.

Raukawa also said the tribe would be adversely affected and the relationship Raukawa descendants have with the spring would be eroded.

In June, bottling company New Zealand Pure Blue Limited applied for the rights to take 6.9 million litres of water per day for export from the Waihou River's Blue Spring near Putaruru, South Waikato.

Action Station director of campaigns Laura O'Connell Rapira says the country is in limbo over water.

Waikato Regional Council chief executive Vaughan Payne says there is no link between the election and the NZ Pure consent being put on hold.

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More than 70,000 people signed an ActionStation online petition opposed to the Blue Spring application and it's become a defining election issue said ActionStation director of campaigns Laura O'Connell Rapira.

Public opposition to water bottling companies is having an affect on the council decision making.

'I definitely think there will be some politics involved in that announcement as there always is,' O'Connell Rapira said.

The National Party say no one owns water while the Labour Party says everybody does, leaving thew country in limbo, she said

'We don't actually know and somewhat faceless corporations can take advantage of that limbo by putting in consents.'

Waikato Regional Council chief executive Vaughan Payne said there is no link between the 2017 General Election campaign and resource consent process.

'We have clear guidelines from the Office of the Auditor General when we undertake our regulatory role that it is without political influence,' Payne said.

Council's resource use directorate advised NZ Pure, the Raukawa Settlement Trust and a number of affiliated parties are 'affected persons' under the Resource Management Act.

Council will need written approval from Raukawa and affiliated parties if a non-notified process for NZ Pure's application is to go ahead.

NZ Pure need to provide approvals by October 16.

If not, council will decide if the application will be notified to affected parties or be publicly notified.

No timeline has been given on that decision.

'All decisions regarding this application will be made independently by our resource use directorate applying the relevant matters sets out in the Resource Management Act,' said council's acting industry and infrastructure manager Mark Brockelsby.

'The council is committed to following proper process at all stages in the handling of this application and we will provide further public updates as appropriate.'