Aotearoa Water Action has filed a Notice of Appeal with the Court of Appeal, against a recent High Court decision which ruled in favour of Environment Canterbury’s water bottling consent processes.

That decision allowed ECan to change consents to take water for industrial purposes, to consents to take the water for water bottling.  It also allowed Cloud Ocean Water Ltd to keep bottling and exporting water from a fully allocated Christchurch aquifer.

AWA co-convener Peter Richardson says the group believes the case to be of high public, cultural and environmental importance and that an appeal was necessary due to the great interest in water protection from the Christchurch public.

“We’ve had huge support in taking this case to court from the public and Christchurch City Council.”

“This indicates the significant concerns people have over the issue.  We believe this recent High Court decision has significant negative implications for access to water generally in New Zealand and we don’t believe the right decision has been made in terms of the law.”

Previous public water rallies saw thousands of people march through Christchurch against the consents.”

The Christchurch City Council also assisted with a $50,000 grant in 2019. As the legal challenge continues, AWA will once again seek donations from the public to help with the appeal.

“We don’t believe communities and iwi should be having to fund the fight to save our water but until the Government listens to our concerns it is up to us to protect our water.”

It’s an issue that is too important to ignore because this High Court decision affects Māori rights and the water sovereignty of our whole country.”

Richardson says AWA has sought legal advice and that there is a strong case to be heard in the Court of Appeal. He expects a date will be set in the coming months.

Key Points

• In late 2017 Environment Canterbury (ECan) granted consents for Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources to take up to 24 million litres of water per day from shallow aquifers beneath Belfast.

• ECan granted the consents without public notification.

• In December 2018 a Commissioner appointed by ECan allowed Cloud Ocean’s consent to be varied to allow water to be taken from a new bore at a depth of 180m sparking concern from the Christchurch City Council about the potential effects on Christchurch’s drinking water supply.

• In December 2017 Aotearoa Water Action challenged water bottling consents granted by the Canterbury Regional Council to Cloud Ocean Water Limited and Rapaki Natural Resources Limited.

• In 2018, an initial hearing ruled in favour of AWA, and that the water bottling companies could not rely on old industrial consents to bottle water at the Belfast sites.

• In 2019 the High Court upheld the process by which the consents were granted.