AUGUST
HERE-TURI-KOKA 2019
ECB recommends moratorium over water security EH_HeaderBlock4Print_Augustdate_open file.indd 1
18/04/19 2:06 PM
by Carl McRae
Local and regional opposition to existing and possible new consents concerning a Petone water-bottling operation drew a sizeable crowd to the final meeting of the current Eastbourne Community Board on August 20. A recommendation was passed by the Board requesting that Greater Wellington Regional Council place an immediate moratorium on any current consents for the extraction of Waiwhetu aquifer water for bottling purposes. ECB also requested that any future applications are put out for public consultation and asked Hutt City Council to assist in achieving these two outcomes. ECB chair Virginia Horrocks says that with an increasing population, summer water restrictions and climate change, we run the risk of depleting the crucial aquifer resource, or saltwater contaminating the aquifer, which would render it inoperable for two years. “Such results,” she says, “are not socially, environmentally, economically or culturally acceptable to our community". Consents granted to date allow for in excess of 900 million litres of water to be drawn from the Lower Hutt Groundwater Zone/ Waiwhetu Aquifer, per year. One company, (Petone Pure Water Company Ltd, original consent granted in 2004), has not abstracted water since 2011, but renewed its application consent in March 2018. GWRC who, under the Resource Management Act, manages the taking and use of water in the Wellington region - is currently awaiting further information on the location of the bore of the proposed water take. It is also known that PPWC Ltd has a limited timeframe in which to comply with a policy of annual return, or risk being struck from the Company’s
Office registrar. Meanwhile, a second consent application was lodged on June 28 this year by Heretaunga Water Ltd, to take and use groundwater from a bore located at 20-24 Hautonga Street in Petone for water bottling purposes at a maximum rate of 20 litres/second, 24 hours a day, 8,640 m3/ week, with an annual volume of 432,000m3/ year. The applicant is seeking a consent period of 30 years. The Waiwhetu aquifer supplies the Wellington region with 40 percent of its water. If both applications were fully consented and the companies operable, water-bottling rights would equate to 3.8 percent of the total 86 percent of the aquifer’s water allocation. Four percent would equate to approximately 17,000 people’s daily water allotment. GWRC’s Lower Hutt constituency councillor, Prue Lamason, says GWRC is currently bound by the RMA. Cr Lamason, who also sits on the GWRC
Environment Committee, says that with such strong opposition to the projects, GWRC has since set up the Whaitua te Whanganui a Tara, which is the third of five Whaitua; select groups of local people from the Hutt Valley and Wellington. “The Whaitua is assigned with developing a programme to improve the quality of our streams, rivers and harbour,” she says. “[It] will also be examining issues around the sustainability of aquifer water use and may even set new limits, based on the most up to date science information and community values.” Cr Lamason said that this may not be a "quick fix", but she implored regional and local councils to work together over resolving the issue. Hutt City Councillors Campbell Barry and Josh Briggs both spoke against water-take at the meeting. Labour list MP for Hutt South, Ginny Andersen, said there is no process for central Government to step in. Continues Page 2
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