Supreme Court to decide on bottling

A case in which controversial consents allowing two companies to extract water from Christchurch aquifers has been overturned will now go before New Zealand’s highest court.

In July, the Court of Appeal quashed a decision by regional council Environment Canterbury (ECan), which had allowed Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources to extract a total of

8.8 billion litres of water annually, using decades-old consents granted for industrial use. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear Cloud Ocean Water’s appeal of the Court of Appeal decision. It signalled its intention to appeal in August, while ECan bowed out of a further appeal.

The Court of Appeal decision said the consents were ‘‘not lawfully granted’’, meaning the companies could use the water for its original purposes, meat processing and scouring wool, not for bottling water.

The decision was a win for antibottling campaigners Aotearoa Water Action (AWA), which in 2020 failed in a High Court bid to challenge ECan’s granting the consents.

In a statement, ECan said the Court of Appeal determined that under ECan’s planning documents it needed to consider water take and water use together. It could have an effect on current consent applications, ECan said.

‘‘Until any decision is made by the Supreme Court, consents will be processed in line with the Court of Appeal’s recent decision.

‘‘Based on the timings around the hearing in March and an expected date for the Supreme Court’s decision, we will work with relevant consent applicants on a case-bycase basis to determine the most appropriate approach for processing their consent applications.’’

The appeal will be heard in March, and a decision is expected later next year.

Cloud Ocean’s Belfast plant was mothballed in September 2019 due to ‘‘challenging market conditions and working capital constraints’’.