Councils fight over water use ruling
Christchurch City Council is investigating its legal options as Environment Canterbury’s interpretation of a water bottling decision continues to delay millions of dollars worth of projects.
ECan last year stopped approving consents for activities that intercept groundwater, including wetlands and stormwater projects, following a Court of Appeal ruling.
The ruling quashed an ECan decision allowing businesses Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources to extract 8.8 billion litres of water each year using decades-old consents originally granted for industrial use.
That decision, which was appealed against by Cloud Ocean Water and is now being considered by the Supreme Court, effectively meant the two companies could use the water for its original purpose – meat processing and scouring wool – but not for bottling water.
ECan has interpreted that to mean it cannot approve any new wetlands or stormwater projects that encroach on the groundwater because it would be deemed as ‘‘taking’’ water from the site.
ECan’s stance has been heavily criticised by planners and councils, with an engineer labelling it as ‘‘bureaucratic idiocy’’.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger has also weighed in, saying ECan’s interpretation was ‘‘crazy’’ and was affecting $100m
worth of projects across the city.
‘‘ECan is encouraging us to build these stormwater basins to stop silt going into the river, and then they’re not consenting them.’’
All subdivisions are required to have a stormwater basin to catch contaminants before they enter waterways, but with the consents not being approved, subdivisions are being delayed, Mauger said.
‘‘It’s very frustrating from a contractor’s point of view and
from a council’s point of view,’’ he said.
‘‘They are saying if a wee bit of water bubbles up out of the ground, which it does if you are digging a pond, it’s deemed a water take and you’re not allowed to do it.’’
About $33m worth of city council projects are delayed due to the issue, including a number in the Ō tākaro Avon River Corridor (Ō ARC), acting three waters head Brent Smith said.
A number of private subdivision
developments are also facing delays, bringing the total value of delayed projects to more than $100m.
A quarterly Ō ARC update by the city council said ECan’s interpretation of the groundwater take was a key risk for all stormwater and wetland projects across the river red zone, the city and region.
The report said efforts to ‘‘work collegially at multiple levels to resolve the issue’’ had been ‘‘unsuccessful’’, leading the council to investigate legal and regulatory options.
The city council and Waimakariri District Council, which also has delayed projects, have jointly sought a legal review of ECan’s interpretation and are awaiting the regional council’s response.
The city council is also considering lodging a private plan change and requesting a declaration from the Environment Court.
Mauger said there seemed to be a reluctance from ECan to find a way forward.
‘‘If ECan would look at it differently, in a pragmatic way, we would not have to spend all this money looking at ways to legally get around a problem that is not there.’’
ECan operations director David Perenara-O’Connell said ECan remained committed to working with the city council to understand and resolve what was a complex issue.
‘‘The city council has presented an option to us, which we’re working through.’’
Perenara-O’Connell said the city council was absolutely within its rights to explore other legal and regulatory options in the meantime. ‘‘We’re well aware of the challenges that the Court of Appeal’s decision is having.’’
He said until the Supreme Court made its decision, which is expected in June, ECan needed to factor in the Court of Appeal’s ruling on managing the take and use of the region’s water resources.