Talking point: Now is not the time to debate water bottling policy

Paul Bailey says No new water bottling plants have been approved in Hawke's Bay since the introduction of the policy in 2016. Photo / file

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council's policy making consents for water bottling plants publicly notifiable came up for discussion by request of Apollo Foods last week.

If we come back to the question of why a corporation was able to get HBRC to expend time and resources on debating this issue when they have other more pressing issues at present, there were two other important questions raised.

Firstly, HBRC's policy currently defines water bottling as "taking and using water for bottling in bottles, bladders or other containers for human consumption, where the water taken makes up at least 90 per cent content of the container".

I agree that at the time the policy was formulated the trigger of 90 per cent content was somewhat arbitrary and could be reviewed if there is good evidence to justify doing so.

This is what is being done. I just hope that the analysis is robust enough to provide the public with enough confidence that it is correct.

Secondly one councillor claimed that the policy itself had served its purpose and reached its use-by date. This flies in the face of the public's ongoing concerns about water bottling plants.

I hope that councillors recognise that by forcing Apollo Fruit to ask them for a policy change proves the policy is working just fine thank you.

That there have been a number of inquiries since the introduction of the policy, none of which have actually proceeded to a consent application, also proves just how well the policy is working.

No new water bottling plants have been approved in Hawke's Bay since the introduction of the policy in 2016. Having a public notification policy does not stop potential water bottlers making a consent application but it is clear having to go through the public notification process has been a step too far for them. Hooray for that.

What was not discussed during the debate was the wider implications of water bottling on our economy.

To put it bluntly, water bottling is the low hanging fruit of water use. Water is a limited resource and we need to ensure that we can extract maximum value for Hawke's Bay from every litre.

This is where the RMA is out of kilter with current thinking. Simply processing applications on a first come first served basis with no consideration given to the long-term implications of the use of the resource has been short-sighted.

And this is where I come back to Apollo Fruit getting face time with council and requesting a change in policy when other businesses or groups are unable to do so.

It would be dangerous to change the public notification policy simply at the behest of one company. It would open the door to anyone else doing the same while also allowing a flood of current consent holders to change their approved purpose for water take without any public input.

HBRC has gone a long way in rebuilding its relationship with tangata whenua and it was pleasing to see that this issue is going to be put before the Regional Planning Committee for their recommendation.

If the committee recommends that the policy remains unchanged, I just hope that councillors bind themselves to that recommendation and do not make an independent decision which overrides it.

The future of resource planning in Hawke's Bay is far too important to put at risk simply for any perceived short-term gain to come from allowing more water bottling plants in Hawke's Bay.

It should also be of concern that while dealing with the economic fallout from the drought and Covid-19 HBRC is spending time and resource to deal with this issue.

This is something which should have been put to bed straight away by staff by pointing to the policy and saying that "it is what it is and we are not going to waste time right now dealing with it".

After all, Apollo Fruit's consent was only recently rolled over (without a request for water bottling) so one is left wondering what has changed in such a short space of time that they are prepared to buy into this now very public debate.

Apollo Fruit needs to accept that consents for water bottling plants are publicly notifiable and just get over it.

Paul Bailey is a former regional councillor