Near 115,000-strong petition presented to stop foreign companies bottling Christchurch water for sale

April 27, 2018

Genevieve Robinson of Aotearoa Water Action says Environment Canterbury should never have granted consents.

A petition with nearly 115,000 signatures to stop foreign companies bottling Christchurch water for sale has today been handed to the regional council, Environment Canterbury.

The petition, organised by the group Aotearoa Water Action, calls for the removal of three consents which allow foreign companies to bottle water and send it overseas. 

The petitioners argue that under Ecan's own regional plan the consents should never have been granted.

The consents were transferred from existing contracts allowing for industrial use but AWA argues they should have been reassessed for bottling.

"Here we are allowing companies to take 24 million litres of ground aquifer water everyday, and I just don't see how that is okay," Genevieve Robinson of Aotearoa Water Action told 1 NEWS as petitioners waving placards gathered outside Ecan's office today. 

She said 115,000 people is a lot, "and we had to tell Ecan that what they're doing just isn't okay, not only in our eyes but in the whole community".

Aotearoa Water Action is taking Environment Canterbury to court in May and needs to raise a further $14,000 to support their legal case. 

And Ms Robinson says AWA's campaign is nationwide.

"Our first campaign starts in Christchurch. But it doesn't end here and that's what we need the country to be behind us for. 

"We're raising funds for this particular legal action against Ecan, but whatever else is in the coffers is available for other communities who need to fight for their own water supply as well," she said.

"As a country we really look at the way we value our main water supplies, the air we breathe. They're all resources we need to live, not what we need to sell."

Peter Scott of Ecan said there's little the council can say at this point, "but we're waiting on the High Court to make its decision and we'll take it from there".

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