UPDATED 12.47PM: Ashburton residents have today rallied against plans for a bottling plant which would extract 40 billion litres of artesian water.

The sale of council land includes resource consent to take the water from an aquifer for a bottling plant.

Green MP Catherine Delahunty is taking part, and argues that it makes no sense to have a water-bottling plant in an area so prone to drought.

Ashburton residents are told to conserve water all year long, and rural supplies are contaminated with nitrate pollution.

"It's an issue that the Ashburton people are absolutely correct to raise," Delahunty said.

"Water is a precious resource not to be sold in secret overseas in plastic bottles."

Delahunty says the community was excluded from the decision making and their precious resource is under threat.

Around 100 people were present at the protest.