Kia ora whānau – we hope you’re all doing ok! Thanks for signing our Push Pause on water bottling petition
We’re getting in touch again to update you on a recent triumph 🙂 and to ask for your help one more time …
Victory at LGNZ’s AGM:
We had a wee victory in August when LGNZ, the body representing all NZ councils, adopted a policy to advocate to Central Government for a moratorium on new applications to bottle our wai! It was big news that never really made the news but you can read the details here and here: Water bottling industry to face fresh scrutiny under plan to ban new ventures. I’ve included the details of what was agreed at the bottom of this email.
We’re now hoping for victory in the Court of Appeal but we could use your help to raise $55,000 in 5 weeks to pay legal fees…
Aotearoa Water Action lost a Judicial Review application in the High Court earlier this year. The Decision allows Cloud Ocean Water Ltd to continue bottling and exporting Christchurch’s water; it allows 8 billion litres of water to be taken from a fully allocated aquifer every year for bottled water export; and it enables consent holders to easily change the use of water taken under existing permits without consenting authorities being able to change the conditions of those permits.
We saw some errors in the Decision, got a second legal opinion, and have already filed in the Court of Appeal.
If you’d like to help you can…
- 1. Make a PLEDGE or DONATION Pledge Me – Operation ‘Stop the Bottling! OR Aotearoa Water Action 38-9019-0530141-00
- 2. SHARE our Pledge Me page – so that it travels far and wide!!!!
- 3 Adopt our facebook cover as your own for the next 5 weeks: Link to facebook cover
And to put a bit of a smile on your dial, here is the remit that is now LGNZ policy 🙂
Water bottling
Proposed by Queenstown Lakes-District Council, the remit contains four parts, and calls for LGNZ to work with the Government to:
- Place a moratorium on applications to take and/or use water for water bottling or bulk export.
The remit was passed with 76 per cent support of the sector.
- Enable regional councils and unitary authorities to review inactive water bottling consents, with a view to withdrawal of the consent and discourage consent ‘banking’.
The remit was passed with 86 per cent support of the sector.
- Undertake an holistic assessment of the potential effects of the current industry, its future growth and the legislative settings that enable councils to effectively manage those effects.
The remit was passed with 92 per cent support of the sector.
- 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 as required.
The remit was passed with 89 per cent support of the sector.
Finally, when the new government convenes we’ll be presenting the petition – ideally, hopefully, with the support of LGNZ. We’ll let you know when that’s happening.
Thanks for all your support so far!
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