Ashburton District Council is in the process of selling land to buyers interested in setting up a water-bottling plant.
The land is part of the Ashburton Business Estate and the 10 hectares being sold, called Lot 9, has an existing consent for extracting water.
The consent allows more than 1.4 billion litres of water to be extracted annually, with just under 4000 cubic metres taken per day. The council was granted this consent from Environment Canterbury (ECan) in 2011.
The water comes from aquifers -- an underground layer of rock saturated in water which can be brought to the surface through pumps.
The consent requires all water taken at an allowed rate of 45m3/sec has to be replaced at 60m3/sec, meaning more water is recharged into the aquifer. The targeted aquifer is expected to be located around 150-200 metres below ground water.
Lot 9 and the recharge site, located on the corner of Mitcham Rd and Winchmore-Dromore Rd, are currently considered to be over-allocated.
The sale has Ashburton locals worried, however, and resident Jen Branje is leading the charge.
"I think the community's in shock that this has actually gone on without any knowledge to the ratepayer," she says.
"We're all a bit stunned at the moment."
Lot 9 is located on J B Cullen Drive in Ashburton.
"People aren't happy about it mainly because we have water restrictions imposed us domestically during the summer," Ms Branje says.
"[The buyer's] just taking the water and buggering off with it."
Community members have met to discuss how they will deal with the issue going forward.
"Why aren't we protecting that precious source for our own economic development rather than giving it away in a consent where there's going to be no ongoing input to our community financially?" she asks.
"It's looking to the future really, if we're going to let them take this water away, how is that going to affect our future water supply?"
The Ashburton Council released a statement confirming the buyers were interested in setting up a water-bottling plant.
Ashburton mayor Angus McKay says he can't confirm whether the buyers are local or international.
He says the land has been marketed for industrial use since the business estate started in 2011.
It's the same amount of water a 100 hectare dairy farm would take, he says, but in this instance it's being recharged.
Mr McKay says the council "bent over backwards" getting the consent with consultation and notified neighbours.
"Previous councils have always put in measures to assist people of Ashburton in the future," he says.
He says money from the sale will be put into a reserve to lower rates
"This district is built on two things -- land and the consented water from the rivers."
He says it's what makes Ashburton one of the fasted growing districts in the country.
"I've got no problem with people using water to do good for the district and their businesses because that's what we're allowed to do."
Phil Burmester, founding director of Naturally Pure NZ Ltd, which owns a water-bottling plant at Tai Tapu, says it's the best thing that could happen to Ashburton.
"What it does is bring jobs [and] transport," he says.
"Water in Canterbury is the purest in New Zealand."
Mr Burmester says the water is currently going to waste as it's at a depth which nobody uses.
"It's going straight from the mountain to the sea," he says.
Mr Burmester is in the process of selling A section/S of his land with water consent rights. He says there has been interest from joint Chinese and New Zealand ventures.
Ninety percent of aquifer water in Chinese cities is now contaminated, he says, and imports of bottled water grew 12 percent last year.
He estimated Lot 9 will sell for millions. And as for the environmental impacts, Mr Burmester says there are little in relation to his water extraction process, as the aquifer replenishes itself.
Mr Burmester says Canterbury has around 570 billion cubic metres of consented water, and the Ashburton water take is for 1.4 billion, which is small in comparison.
"I think a lot of people don't understand that this water is deep water, and it's going out to sea."
Confirmation of the sale is expected by June 30 2016.
Newshub.
