An anti water-bottling campaigner says a rally in Christchurch on Friday will show how many people care about the environment.
More than 115,000 signatures will be presented to Environment Canterbury at lunchtime, calling for it to revoke the consents for two planned water bottling ventures in the Belfast area.
Water-bottling business Cloud Ocean Water is preparing to operate within the former Kaputone Wool Scour, using a 20-year-old permit originally granted to the land's former owner. Rapaki Natural Resources has also obtained water permits on an adjacent site. In total, these companies could take 24 million litres of water every day.
Petition organiser Genevieve Robinson says people making decisions on behalf of the community need to take stock of the public interest in the issue.
"It's not just about them and us," she told Newshub.
"It's about working together and having the public renotified."
Ms Robinson says it's not about charging for water - it's about the environmental impact of taking it.
"I think there's actually a sort of grief process for a lot of people that our environment can be treated with such disrespect."
Meanwhile, water action group Aotearoa Water Action is crowdfunding for a High Court challenge against the way the consents were granted.
Newshub.
