Growth projected in Whanganui water bottling application for Kai Iwi site

Could Whanganui water be bottled for export? Photo/ 123RF

It's yet to get off the ground but a proposed water bottling business is promising lucrative returns and the possibility of a second bore.

Horizons Regional Council has received an application from Turner New Zealand Artesian Water Estate.

The applicant, Noel Turner, asked to take 604,000 litres a day from a new 150m deep bore sunk for that purpose in May by Wanganui Well Drillers. The bore is at a 16ha property in Handley Rd, near Kai Iwi.

The water would be put in 10 litre containers for local and export sale.

Horizons is likely to ask for more information on the application, a spokeswoman said. It has not decided whether the effects of the take are major enough to require it to be publicly notified.

If it is publicly notified, people will be able to make submissions on it and any decision will be made by an independent commissioner after a hearing.

If it is not publicly notified, the decision will be made by Horizons staff. It would also be based on the effects of taking the water and would ignore the fact the water would be for sale, and possibly for export.

A bore that could be used to bottle water for export is in Handley Rd, not too far from Ototoka Beach. Photo / Bevan Conley

Turner's application, made by consultant Geosearch Ltd, says the aim is to develop the operation to two or more bores. The resulting bottling plant could potentially provide fulltime work for six people.

Turner is to apply to Whanganui District Council for consent to operate a water bottling plant at the Handley Rd property.

He seeks to take almost as much water in one day as Aquifer 182 Holding Co Ltd wants to take in a week from a 237m deep bore at 182 Anzac Pde, Whanganui. That application sparked a "community conversation" in Majestic Square on October 1.

The Turner application says the water applied for is the minimum needed to start the business.

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Water would be pumped from the aquifer, using a submersible pump, with pauses to allow the aquifer to recover.

The bore is 1.4km from the coast and 1.5km from Kai Iwi village. The nearest streams are Kai Iwi and Okehu, and the application says the take would have no effect on them.

It is from "a deep and confined aquifer", and would have no effect on other bores in the area. There are six others within 3km.

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The water would be treated with ultraviolet light and put into 10 litre plastic bladders, which would be enclosed in cartons before being sold.

The previous owner of the property applied in 1997 to bottle 150,000 litres of water a day from another bore. That business only operated for a short time and Turner bought the property that year.