October 03, 2022
Whanganui bottling plan sparks water fight
A Whanganui iwi leader says the iwi will fight a resource consent granted to extract water from a site in the city.
Aquifer 182 Holding Company Ltd has consent to take 37 million litres a year from a bore on a former milk bottling plant on Anzac Parade which runs alongside the Whanganui River.
Tūpoho iwi chair Ken Mair says it’s unbelievable the regional council would grant a consent to a company whose 50 percent foreign shareholder remains anonymous.
The commissioners also ignored long-standing claims over water which have still not been resolved.
“They don’t have the right within our tribal domain and our community to sell water. They must seek our permission. They haven’t got our permission and we’ve told them over and over ‘no, no and no,’ and yet they continue to carry on so you can only put it under the heading ‘theft’ and ‘another confiscation’,” Mr Mair says.
Independent hearing commissioners Christine Foster and Vicki Morrison-Shaw said the proposed groundwater take would not directly physically affect Te Awa Tupua (the Whanganui River) and the applicant has demonstrated over a four-year period a genuine desire to work collaboratively with iwi and hapū for the benefit of all.