Water bottling industry to face fresh scrutiny under plan to ban new ventures

Friday, 21 August 2020

New Zealand’s burgeoning water bottling has caused concern among many.

Councils will work with the Government to clamp down on the controversial water bottling industry amid widespread concerns over sustainability and the “banking” of consents.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has called for a ban on applications to take or use water for bottling or export and wants a major review of legislation of a “young and relatively unregulated” industry.

It says the consequences of rapid uptake and growth of water bottling are unknown, warning it could “artificially raise land values and make access to water unaffordable”.

“Where water is unlikely to be bottled, consents should be available to be reviewed, or in the case of mixed-use consents, water bottling removed as a purpose of the water take.”

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As of January 2018, 157.8 million litres of water was bottled annually, LGNZ said.

But consents across the country collectively allowed for 71.5m litres to be extracted each day for both bottled and mixed uses, amounting to more than 26 billion litres a year.

Protesters turned out in great numbers at a water bottling protest in Christchurch in 2019.

In Christchurch, two of the country’s largest water bottling consent holders, Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources, together have permission to extract about 8.8b litres a year.

Efforts to curb their operations suffered a major blow last month when anti-bottling campaign group Aotearoa Water Action (AWA) had a legal challenge over their consents thrown out by the High Court.

But a fresh examination of policy and legislation could now be on the cards, with LGNZ saying the implications of “banking” consents need to be fully explored.

A look at Christchurch's Cloud Ocean Estate water bottling production plant. (Video first published in November 2018)

“The value proposition of water bottling has resulted in the ‘banking’ and sale of water bottling consents, raising the value of land and effectively creating an unregulated market for water,” the organisation, which represents New Zealand’s 78 councils, said in a remit passed at its annual general meeting on Friday.

“This issue is exacerbated by increasing demand for water, the fact that many catchments are at or approaching full allocation, and the extent to which some regional plans enable existing water consents to be varied to enable water bottling.”

AWA was “thrilled” with the decision, saying it was a “huge step in the right direction”.

“The result shows elected representatives are becoming aware of the effects of the industry,” spokeswoman Niki Gladding said.

The proposal was championed by Queenstown Lakes District Council, which in February wrote to Environment Minister David Parker calling for a ban on new and existing bottling consents.

LGNZ will now work with the Government to:

Place a moratorium on applications to take and/or use water for water bottling or bulk export;
Enable regional councils and unitary authorities to review inactive water bottling consents, with a view to withdraw the consent and discourage consent banking;
Assess the potential effects of the current industry, its future growth and the legislative settings that enable councils to effectively manage those effects.
Initiate a comprehensive nationwide discussion on the issue of water bottling (within the wider basis of water use) and implement any changes to the legislation and policy settings.

Since 2013, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has facilitated investment in eight water bottling companies to support the growth of water exports, LGNZ said.

However, NZTE had stopped promoting water-bottling investment opportunities to overseas investors by the end of 2016.

Water is not defined as a “sensitive asset” under legislation, meaning foreign investment cannot be managed effectively.

Māori also have concerns over the effect on cultural values – Bay of Plenty iwi Ngāti Awa taking one case to the Environment Court – and there are worries about the environmental impact from single-use plastic bottles.