Thread by @acphotonz

Why protest a few bottles of water? Former Mayor Vicki Buck says it best "The application from Cloud Ocean was treated as a variation to an existing resource consent , when in my view it should definitely have been treated as a completely new consent.

The old ( unused ) consent related to Kaputone Wool scouring, was apparently specifically for wool scouring, (and interestingly according to people who worked there was never used to the full). Nor was it a fully consumptive consent in that the water was used for dilution

rather than taken and used 24/7 for 365 days a year. Most importantly it was from the very shallow aquifer (Aquifer 1) at about 30metres which is not an aquifer that interferes with our drinking water aquifer in any way.

The new consent, which was treated as only a variation to that consent, was for the deepest aquifer ( Aquifer 5), the same one from which we derive your drinking water"

-this next bit is impt-
"This is an area of Christchurch with major growth projected so the impact on the Council will be major in that Council will now need to prove it does not interfere with the Cloud Ocean take to get further drinking water take.

There are two sections that need approval in a resource consent. The first is should it be publicly notified or at least notified to certain parties. The Council, the biggest user of water and drinking water provider made a strong case to have it publicly notified.

The strength of public opinion can be one factor in that ...but equally as important is the future take of water for hundreds of years for the public good of the people of the city.

The commissioner who Ecan appointed said No notification required at all and in the same decision granted the consent.
That has made people angry. Very angry.

Ecan has indicated they want to work with the Council on changes to the Land and Water Regional Management Plan .. And we would love to do that ..

The current system, while saying no one owns the water, means that the landowner/s effectively achieve the value of the resource for which they have a consent (especially if it can be altered so dramatically by a variation rather than a whole new consent )

this is what will get tested in the judicial review which the good people at Aotearoa Water Action have before the Court at present, thank goodness!" #ccc #AWA #water #chch #nzpol @nzlabour @NZGreens @winstonpeters @NZNationalParty