The Battle to Save Te Waikoropupū Springs

On 13th March 2017 Ngāti Tama were in court to seek a judicial review to challenge the resource consent to take groundwater for commercial gain from our Wāhi Tapu Te Waikoropupū. This was due to the fact that the Tasman District Council granted an extension to Kahurangi Virgin Waters Ltd in 2013, despite our objection lodged in 2012. On 30th May 2017 the Judge ruled in our favour and ordered the Council to reconsider the water consent. On 5th June, the Environment Minister Nick Smith announced he had accepted our application for a Water Conservation Order (WCO) over Te Waikoropupū along with the aquifers which feed it. This resulted in a special tribunal appointed on 17th July to consider the application. We’re expecting the next step to be a call for public submissions in September with hearings scheduled for later this year and a decision to follow in 2018. Then on 4th August, the Tasman District Council notified us of their decision to extend the lapsing date for the resource consent to Kahurangi Virgin Waters to take groundwater from our taonga for bottling. As we work our way through all the twist and turns of this journey, we’ll continue to keep you informed.