39,000 Demand Rejection of NZ Pure Blue's Extraction Bid

Wednesday, 5 July 2017, 9:30 am
Press Release: ActionStation

After Successfully Pushing Ashburton District Council to Call off Secret Backroom Water Deal with NZ Pure Blue, Consumer Watchdog Group SumOfUs Pressures Waikato to Follow Suit

In response to NZ Pure Blue Springs’ consent application this month to the Waikato Regional Council for permission to extract 6.9 million litres a day from the Putaruru Blue Springs in the Waihou River, 39,000 SumOfUs members in a new petition campaign urging the council to reject the company's bid.

VIEW THE SUMOFUS PETITION HERE: https://actions.sumofus.org/pages/nz-pure-blue-wants-to-build-the-largest-water-bottling-plant-in-the-southern-hemisphere-in-putaruru/

SumOfUs’s first victory against the company came In 2016, when the organization garnered enough public pressure to block NZ Pure Blue Springs from acquiring purchase rights to extract and export 1.4 billion litres of water a year in Ashburton.

Now, as NZ Pure Blue Springs sets its sights on South Waikato to set-up a bottling plant and create the "largest production bottling plant in the southern hemisphere, exporting 100% of its products,” SumofUs is demanding the council block the company’s application and protect the natural resource.

For more information: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11879762

Jon Lloyd, Campaign Director at SumOfUs.org, explained:

“The same water bottling company that tried to suck the drought-prone Canterbury Plains dry before SumOfUs members stopped it now wants to build ‘the largest production bottling plant in the southern hemisphere’ in Waikato.

“NZ Pure Blue’s planned monstrosity will drain the Putaruru's Blue Spring of a staggering 6.9 million litres a day—exporting every drop of this pristine water for at least 15 years if NZ Pure Blue’s corporate greed has its way.

“NZ Pure Blue thinks it can exploit yet another precious source of water, processing and shipping it overseas all in the name of corporate profit. Over 39,000 SumOfUs membershave a simple message to NZ Pure Blue: We stopped you in Ashburton, and we will stop you again in South Waikato. This deal is bad for the environment and bad for Kiwis, and the Waikato Regional Council must reject it without delay.”

Laura O’Connell Rapira, Campaign Director at ActionStation explained:

“NZ Pure Blue are not just taking New Zealand’s water for little-to-no fee, they are taking the best and cleanest water. They are leveraging our clean, green image to make a quick buck without giving much of anything back to the community or country. It’s not right. ”

“We need our water to sustain families and communities, now and into the future. We urge elected leaders to take a long-term view when making decisions around the taonga that is water.”

ENDS

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