billion-bottles-per-year water plant expansion
An iwi has won the right to appeal a Chinese-owned water bottling plant's plans to expand its facility and fill nearly a billion bottles from an aquifer in Whakatāne every year.
Creswell NZ, a subsidiary of multi-billion dollar Chinese water bottling giant Nongfu Spring, was granted consent by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2018 to bottle water from the Ōtākiri Aquifer.
However, the issue of consent has been consistently challenged by local iwi Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, which claims the bottling activity would significantly damage the mauri, or life force, of the water which holds special significance to the iwi.
Link to article: Ngāti Awa wins right to appeal billion-bottles-per-year water plant expansion | RNZ News
