Water  |  12 Apr 2019

Christchurch City Council is providing lobby group Aotearoa Water Action (AWA) with a $50,000 grant towards the legal costs of its High Court action.

Water coming out of a tap.AWA is seeking High Court judgements that Environment Canterbury’s decision making process under the Resource Management Act for two resource consents issued to commercial water bottling companies, Cloud Ocean Water Limited and Rapaki Natural Resources Limited, was unlawful.

Christchurch Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner says the Council has decided to help AWA with its legal costs because the outcome of the legal proceedings could have an impact on the long-term management of Christchurch’s water resources.

“Water is a precious resource in Christchurch and there is significant public interest in how we protect our water supply. It is important to our communities that the concerns raised by AWA are able to be given due consideration by the High Court,’’ Cr Turner says.

The $50,000 grant the Council is providing AWA will be funded through the Council’s Capital Endowment Fund.