LAMB TO THE WATER
A NSW company that sells water to bottling corporates has been given a week to close.
Matthew Karlos said he received a letter from the Tweed Shire Council on Tuesday ordering Eniflat to stop pumping water at its property at Urliup. The council would not say why it is stopping Eniflat, which has been operating for 15 years.
Mr Karlos said he would ignore the directive as it would put a number of people out of work.
A NEW South Wales family business which sells water to national bottling companies has been given a week to shutdown its operations.
Matthew Karlos said he received a letter from the Tweed Shire Council on Tuesday ordering Eniflat to stop pumping water at its property at Urliup, 20 minutes south-west of Coolangatta.
It was also given 28 days to remove all equipment.
The council would not say why it is stopping Eniflat, but confirmed the stop-work letter had been the only one sent to a business in the water extraction industry.
Eniflat has pumped water from its property for 15 years, selling it to bottlers NuPure, Wet Fix Spring Water and, previously, Mount Franklin.
Mr Karlos said he would ignore the council’s directive as it would put a number of people out of a job.
“It’s not just us, it is the truck drivers, companies that maintain the pumps and infrastructure and the local electricians which are always on our property working,” he said.
“You go through the process, set up a business and the green council just try and shut you down.”
Under the Notice of Proposed Development Control Order, the business should stop pumping water by tomorrow and all equipment would be removed from the property within 28 days.
“Demolish and remove from the land the covered structure, pipes and other equipment located on the access road west of the dwelling on the land used for pumping water extracted from the land into delivery trucks,” the order reads.
A Tweed Shire Council Development Assessment Unit spokesperson said this was the only order sent to a water extraction business.
“As stated in the notice of the proposed order, Eniflat has until August 7 to respond to the proposed order,” the spokesperson said.
“Further commentary is not appropriate.”
Mr Karlos said he would continue to pump water and that the council had no right to stop them.
“We have council approval
THE COUNCIL HAS NOT GIVEN US ANY REASONS WE HAVE TO SHUT DOWN OUR OPERATIONS
ENIFLAT’S MATTHEW KARLOS
(from 2003) and an allocation from the New South Wales Office of Water for 60 mega litres a year,” he said.
“The council has not given us any reasons we have to shut down our operations.”
Eniflat and the council are already before the courts after councillors refused the Karlos family’s application to allow Bdouble trucks. The matter was part-heard in March and has been relisted for further hearing on September 12-13.
Mr Karlos said the council’s restrictions on trucking had effectively halved the business’ ability to use its allocation.
“We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in reports that were never required all at the whim of the greens’ demands,” he said. “If the greens can’t stamp your business out legally they drag you through the courts to financially kick you on your arse.”