Water bottling consent granted

A consent to bottle water in Belfast has been granted. Cloud Ocean Water applied to change the purpose of its consent from using water for a wool scour to using water for commercial bottling. 

The decision released today, highlights the adverse effects of changing the purpose of the consent from using water for a wool scour, to using water for water bottling, were considered no more than minor. 

The applicant was informed of the decision yesterday.

Environment Canterbury senior manager operational support Tania Harris said, “Environment Canterbury's role is to look at the volume of water being taken and the environmental effect of taking and using that water. It’s not our role to make a judgment on the merits of the purpose for which the water is sought.”

“Cloud Ocean already has an existing water take consent, which was transferred to them when they purchased the site from Kaputone Wool Scour,” Harris said.

The transfer of the water take consent was an administrative exercise – the Resource Management Act authorises consents to be transferred to the new owner of a site, which simply occurs on notice to the Council. 

The effects on taking water out of the aquifer were assessed when the original consents to take water were granted, and were outside of what could be examined when looking at the proposed change in the use of water. 

Decision documents

The principal consents advisor addressed the public interest in this site in his decision document. You can read the decision document here.

Find out more about water bottling consents here.