Threat to groundwater stops businesses from opening

Christchurch developers have been given a harsh lesson on the need to take drinking-water protection seriously.

Three new businesses about to open on Christchurch International Airport Ltd land were told last week they couldn't do so because of potential contamination of the city's drinking water.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) followed up with a warning to developers today that they must have environmental safeguards in place before allowing tenants to open their doors.

The buildings for the three businesses -- a vehicle testing station, a cafe-carwash and a lube service for cars -- were erected on land astride one of the aquifers giving Christchurch its drinking water.

ECan chief executive Bryan Jenkins said it was good to see that the airport company barred access to the site as soon as it was aware the drinking water safeguards had been overlooked by the developer.

The airport's authorisation to permit stormwater discharge to underground aquifers bans discharges from areas such as lube service centres where oil is stored.

It also specifies that discharges has to be via a soakage-filter system to remove contaminants.

"It's good to see the airport acted swiftly ... and is appropriately ensuring that its tenants stick to this requirement."

Dr Jenkins added once the situation was fixed two of the tenants were unlikely to be allowed to operate from the site without getting extra ECan resource consents for hazardous substances and stormwater disposal.

"There are no guarantees that they will be able to get those consents," Dr Jenkins said.

- NZPA