February 05, 2021
Ngati Awa to appeal mega-bottling plan
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa has filed for leave to appeal the High Court judgment dismissing its appeal of the Environment Court’s decision to allow the massive expansion of a water bottling plant near Whakatane.
Creswell New Zealand Limited has been given the right to extract 1.1 million cubic metres of water a year from the Otākiri aquifer.
Rūnanga chief executive Leonie Simpson says water is an inherited treasure, and once it has been removed from the rohe the wai will never return.
Ngāti Awa is also concerned about the wider allocation of freshwater rights in Aotearoa, which successive governments have failed to address.
Copyright © 2021, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com