Bottling levy big bucks for council

The Green Party’s proposed water bottling levy could give Horizons Regional Council more than $53,000 a day extra.

The party has suggested introducing a 10-cent-per-litre levy on water bottling and exports that councils could use to help clean up waterways.

Horizons natural resources and partnerships group manager Dr Jon Roygard said there were eight consents for water bottling in Horizons’ region, which stretches as far south as Horowhenua and as far north as Waitomo.

The total daily maximum volume of for these consents is 539,616 litres. A 10-cent-per-litre charge would equate to $53,960 a day.

But that allocation did not necessarily equal what was being used.

‘‘For example, of the eight consents in our region, currently only one consent is actually being utilised and even then, it is unlikely that consent is being used every day.’’

The allocated maximum volume of the eight consents accounted for 0.02 per cent of total water allocated in the region, Roygard said.

If central government required councils to process a levy, such as charging 10 cents a litre, Horizons would need to implement the process. But, water users were already charged an annual fee that supports work by the council to measure river flows, groundwater levels, rainfall levels and water quality, he said.

In a statement, Greens co-leader James Shaw said the party would develop a fair way to charge all commercial water users, ‘‘something that the National Government has avoided responsibility for’’.

In 2016, about 45,000 people put up with faecal contamination in their drinking water, Shaw said.

Any charge on water could benefit communities, giving them more funding to manage infrastructure undertake testing and get technical help, he said.