| March to Save Our Water in Christchurch on Saturday 9th March Dear friend, Four weeks ago we heard that Cloud Ocean Water – the water bottling company that has already drilled a 184m deep bore hole into the pristine, aquifer that supplies Christchurch’s drinking water – has bought another site, and plans to bottle even more of our wai (water).1 25 million litres of our purest water could be extracted every day from fully-allocated Belfast aquifers by Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources. The companies could earn millions of dollars each day from a public resource that should be protected, so that future generations of New Zealanders will have clean water to drink. Cloud Ocean will expand its bottling operation and bottle even more water – unless we stop them in the courts. And that’s exactly what we plan to do! We won the first round; the Court determined that the existing consents to extract water – originally used for operating a wool scour and meat works – cannot be used for bottling.2 However, the bottling companies have appealed that ruling so we’re getting ready to go to court to stand up for our water again. Another hearing will take place later this year to determine whether the more recent ‘use’ and ‘amalgamation’ consents, granted to Cloud Ocean and Rapaki, can be used for bottling. Like you, many New Zealanders care strongly about our water. Over 35,000 people have so far supported ActionStation’s call to save Christchurch’s water.3 It’s time to stand together and tell our elected representatives they must put people and our beautiful planet first. Together we can stop the extraction and export of our most pristine water and the manufacture of billions of plastic bottles every year. It’s time to #stopthebottling! Take action to protect our water If you’re a Christchurch local, join Scott Esdaile and Aotearoa Water Action (AWA) on Saturday 9 March and March to Save Our Water! On Saturday March 9th Cantabrians will join together in a March to Save Our Water. Organised by local good-sort Scott Esdaile and supported by Aotearoa Water Action, this is a chance for Cantabrians to raise their concerns about their precious wai. If you’re concerned about water bottling, water quality, water allocation or water sovereignty please come along! We will march at 12:30pm from the Corner of Manchester and Cashel Streets, through Cashel Street Mall, onto Oxford Terrace, into Worcester Boulevard and finally Cathedral Square. We’re aiming for thousands! Bring your walking shoes and banners, your kids (this is for their future) – and a bottle of water from home! Let’s send a powerful message to Government that we want to #stopthebottling Click to RSVP and SHARE the event on Facebook Chip in to turbocharge AWA’s legal campaign to stop the Belfast bottling plants! You can also help by chipping in. Aotearoa Water Action has challenged the Belfast bottling consents in the High Court. AWA won the first round of proceedings but both companies have appealed the Court’s decision. Many of you chipped in last year to make our legal challenge possible – the support has been amazing. The Bottle Off campaign raised over $40k! Now, AWA needs needs your help again – to defend the Court’s decision and to fund ‘round 2’ of the challenge later this year. Winning this case will overturn the Belfast bottling consents, it will help to protect Christchurch’s water for the community, and it will set an important precedent for the allocation of New Zealand’s water – companies will no longer be able to use old irrigation or industrial consents to authorise water bottling Our team at AWA is run 100% by volunteers so all money raised will go directly to fund the legal challenge. Chip in today: Account details: Aotearoa Water Action Inc. 38 9019 053 0141 00 By chipping in a little each, together we can use our people power to save our wai. If you can’t chip in right now, that’s no problem! You can also help by forwarding this email to a few friends who may be able to chip in, or sharing the links on your social media. Every click helps! With hope and determination, Niki, for the AWA team Aotearoa Water Action References Cloud Ocean Water eyeing second Christchurch site, Newstalk ZB, Feb 2019 Environment Canterbury dealt court blow on water bottling consent call, Stuff, Dec 2018 Save Christchurch’s water, stop the water bottle exports, ActionStation |
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Hi guys
I would like to say all for protecting the rights of drinking water for new zealanders, if you recall a few elections ago labour tried to put a price on use of industrial use of water for commerical gain of private business and nobody voted for it and it was laughed of this country by the citizens. If you truely want to protect the water you need to look at all business fairly they all use lots of water not just bottling companies and treat them all the same.
Personally, I have issue with Cloud Ocean being an overseas business, (China) selling NZ water overseas, and selling the water at hundreds of percent profit. But more importantly, there is no concern given to what will remain for future generations: It is about corporate greed in the immediate present, and aquifer water is a finite resource. I agree that intensive dairying and other industries also use obscene amounts of water (and the quality of Canterbury residential water is suffering as a result). I guess the primary issue is water conservation, and the secondary issue is protecting our assets. China does not give a damn about our environment, only about ownership of land and assets for it’s own gain. To reiterate; that’s my personal opinion!
Thanks for your comments Bevan.