SWDC internal documents reveal concerns over number of 'realistic' NZ Pure Blue jobs

South Waikato mayor Jenny Shattock said the council supported the business bringing economic development and jobs to the region. Photo / Herald Local Focus

Concerns about inflated figures used in a controversial application to take 6.9 million litres of water a day from Putaruru's Blue Spring and send it offshore were kept a secret by South Waikato District Council management, internal documents reveal.

SWDC continued to publicly support the application because of the economic development it could bring, despite discovering that only about eight of the 200 jobs it had promised were realistic.

However, the company behind the application, NZ Pure Blue, has slammed claims that only seven to eight direct jobs would be created and said the document was penned by "some idiot".

In an internal email, provided to the Herald under the Official Information Act (OIA), group manager of community Sam Marshall told council's executive team on June 28 that NZ Pure Blue Springs claim it would employ 200 people was "very unlikely".

The executive team comprises the chief executive Craig Hobbs and five managers.

"... even an 84,000 bottle-an-hour, world-class bottling line is only likely to generate seven to eight direct jobs."

Marshall also challenged the figures the council had been given around how much water would be removed, and said a world-class bottling facility would bottle 88,000 litres per hour, which would be 2.1 million litres over 24 hours.

"This raises questions about why, or how, any company would need 6.9m litres per day. (Noting the market preference is for the 500ml product)," Marshall said.

There was also a "gap" in the consent application in terms of the council being able to consider potential impacts, including where there would be any discharge into its waste water plant because an important part of the application - a Water Management Plan - had been left out.

"At a world-class standard of 30ml excess of water per litre bottled at 6.9m litres per day is still 200m3 per day of excess water to dispose [of] somewhere," he wrote.

"There appear to be some issues with the numbers being proposed in the consent/what will be delivered to the community."

But a week after the first concerns were raised by management, South Waikato mayor Jenny Shattock told the Herald's Local Focus the council supported the economic development and jobs the water bottling plant would provide.

"If it is what it says it is - and I have no reason not to believe that - then we are very supportive of that," Shattock said.

That same day, Sharon Robinson, the council's group manager regulatory, emailed the executive team and the mayor, saying it was the council's view that it "could be considered an affected party and that there were some inaccurate statements in the application".

Hobbs also responded to Herald enquiries that week questioning the council's support, saying: "We reiterate, council's support is for job creation, economic development and community development. We remain committed to this outcome for our community."

However, when asked on Monday why the council didn't come clean about its concerns revealed in the emails, Hobbs said some of the comments "allowed for free and frank discussion internally, due diligence, research and individual opinion".

"We have been as transparent as we can while allowing our organisation to engage in the necessary conversations that allow for commercially sensitive discussion and free-and-frank discussion.

"Council has an agreed stance on support for the NZ Pure Blue application. Again our support is dependent on the delivery of jobs and community trust fund."

The council has received strong opposition over its support for the application, with the mayor alone receiving more than 30 emails in addition to the letters and emails sent to the council and backlash on social media, including the council's Facebook page. An online petition opposing NZ Pure Blue's application for a resource consent also gained more than 70,000 signatures, which the groups involved were planning on presenting to the Waikato Regional Council.

NZ Pure Blue director Roydon Hartnett said he had not received any form of communication from South Waikato District Council which implied it did not support the proposed project.

Hartnett pointed the Herald to the BERL economic and social impact report included in the application, which suggests there will be between 194 and 232 direct jobs created in the region by operating the facility.

"... it's not 7-8 jobs as some idiot has penned in your amazing internal correspondence find," he said.

Last month the Waikato Regional Council put NZ Pure Blue Spring's consent application on hold until October 16, while the company asked for written approval from Raukawa, deemed to be an affected party, in order for the consent to be non-notified.

The council said it would have to decide whether the application would be notified to affected persons or publicly notified if the approvals were not given. Raukawa has already confirmed it would not give written approval to the application.

Hartnett said Raukawa did not have the authority to make the decision about the consent and said it was possible it could change its mind in the next six weeks.