Posted: 25 May 2005
Thirty-year consent for Poroti water bottling plant
A company planning to export bottled water from Whangarei’s Poroti Springs has been granted resource consent to take groundwater for the next 30 years.
Richard J Nathan and Zodiac Holdings Ltd asked the Northland Regional Council to replace an existing eight-year approval to take water from an unnamed tributary of the Waipao Stream (Poroti Springs) with a new, longer-running consent.
A Regional Council Hearings Committee heard the application in Whangarei earlier this month and yesterday (Tuesday 24 May) delivered a decision allowing the water to be taken until 30 June 2035.
The consent includes a maximum 1000 cubic metre daily limit on the amount of water that can be taken. The exact limit varies between 500-1000 cu m, depending on extraction rates by other consent holders.
Information provided to the two-member Committee by the applicants indicated the security of a consent 30-year term was needed given the capital investment required for the bottling venture.
In its decision, the Hearings Committee – chaired by Cr Mark Farnsworth – said it considered the effects of the groundwater take would be “no more than minor”.
The Committee recognised Poroti Springs and surrounding aquifer had significant cultural and spiritual value to local Maori but resolved no new issues had been raised by submitters that had not already been addressed by the Environment Court in a 2002 determination.
However, to assist Maori in their guardianship role, monitoring results and information on the water resource will be made available to them and they will be involved in ongoing consultation over the Waipao Catchment Management Plan.