Two Whanganui applications to bottle water

Ohakune people relied on bottled water for drinking when their water supply was contaminated by heavy rain in July. Photo / Alan Gibson

A fresh application to take and bottle water from the Kai Iwi area is bigger than the Whanganui one that sparked a "community conversation" in Majestic Square on October 1.

The first, received in September last year, is from Aquifer 182 Holding Company and seeks to take 750,000 litres a week from a deep bore at 182 Anzac Pde. The second, received in July this year, seeks to take 604,000 litres a day.

That's almost as much as Aquifer 182 wants to take in a week.

It is from Turner New Zealand Artesian Water, with the take based in Handley Rd. The road runs along the coast from Mowhānau Village to a junction with Maxwell Station Rd.

The Aquifer 182 application will be looked at "under Te Awa Tupua considerations" as well as the usual ones, Horizons Regional Council strategy and regulation manager Dr Nic Peet said.

Peet said the council appreciated the public was concerned about water being taken for bottling and sale.

It's a new issue for the Whanganui District, but consent to take and bottle water, often for export, has caused massive opposition elsewhere in New Zealand - especially in Canterbury. Nationwide, companies have more than 80 consents to take and bottle water.

Environment Minister David Park was considering a levy of 10c per litre on the water bottlers.

But lobby group Aotearoa Water Action says a levy will only incentivise councils to give consent. It wants a moratorium on water bottling for export.

Horizons' One Plan protects rivers by limiting the amount of water taken from them, and protects groundwater by limiting takes to 5 per cent of the total rainfall in that groundwater zone.

In the Whanganui Groundwater Zone there are 46 billion litres of water available for taking.

Whanganui town takes up to 54 million litres of water from bores.

Across the Horizons Region there are 8700 bores taking groundwater. Anyone taking more than 50,000 litres a day has to have consent.

When surface water takes are added to groundwater takes, the biggest water take by far in the Horizons Region is for hydroelectric generation - 77 per cent of all water taken. The other 23 per cent is for agriculture, industry and town supply, with only 0.1 per cent for bottling.

Horizons staff members first assess consent applications to see whether more information is needed. When they have all the information they decide whether to notify the public about the application.

If it is notified, people can make submissions and a hearing will be held. If it is not notified Horizons staff will decide whether or not to grant a consent.

Whichever way the decision goes, it can be appealed.