Chinese company's non-notification bid rejected in Bay of Plenty water bottling case

Thursday, 14 December 2017

A water plant similar to what Chinese company Nongfu Spring intends to open.

A Chinese-owned company's bid to take 580 million of waters from the pristine Otakiri Springs through a non-notified consent has been flushed.

The bid by Cresswell NZ Limited, a subsidiary of Nongfu Spring, applied to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in August for the increase from the spring near Whakatāne. Currently the company takes two million litres a year.

Chinese bottling company Nongfu Spring has applied through an NZ subsidiary, Creswell NZ Ltd, to draw 580 millions litres of water a year from Otakiri Springs, near Whakatane.

They asked for their application to have a non-notified consent. Such consents can be approved by council if the adverse effects which may result from the activity are no more than minor and any affected persons have agreed in writing to the activity.

However, the council decided instead to publicly notify the resource consent application and the proposed expansion of the water bottling plant.

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

'This means any person (other than a trade competitor) will have the opportunity to lodge a submission in support and/or opposition, or to indicate a neutral position with respect to the application,' consents manager Reuban Fraser said.

'The RMA sets clear guidelines around when consent applications must, and must not, be notified. In this case we had discretion and have opted to notify on the basis that we will likely be able to make a more informed decision following a public process.'

Submissions wll be accepted on the proposal from December 14 until 5pm Monday February 5.

'Following the submission period we will look at the next steps which will likely include appointing commissioners and holding a hearing,' he said.

'This is not a quick process and we are a while off confirming whether consent will be granted.'

Their original application, prepared by Beca Consultants, Cresswell NZ Limited acknowledged the negative public opinion about bottling plants taking royalty-free water but still pushed for their consent, which would see their annual take increase 27,400 per cent, to be non-notified.

'One matter not discussed in detail in that analysis is the recent negative publicity regarding various proposals around New Zealand to bottle and export water and concerns raised about the lack of a royalty payment regime for such proposals,' they said in their application.

'As the Council will appreciate, that is because those matters are not relevant to the consideration of the application under the Resource Management Act and must not be taken into account in the Council's notification decision.'

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised to crack down on royalty-free use of New Zealand water during her election campaign.

A labour party spokesman said the Government has committed to ensuring commercial water bottlers will pay a royalty on water harvested but free trade agreements could mean some markets will be exempt.

Under current legislation Regional Council does not have the ability to charge for water.