A new petition started this week by Action Station has already gained 7,5000 signatures, calling for Environment Canterbury to revoke resource consents given to two water bottling companies in Belfast.

Concerns are mounting over the consenting process at ECan after it was revealed that Chinese company Cloud Ocean Water, which has consent to obtain 1.6 billion litres a year of water, drilled a 170 metre deep bore that could affect the city's water supply.

Campaign manager Rick Zwaan's been overwhelmed with the response.

"I think it shows the amount of concern that people have around water bottling in New Zealand and wanting to ensure that we've got people on the planet before private water bottlers profits."

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Zwaan says if local government don't have the power to intervene central government should step up.

"We'd like to be able to have a conversation nationally around should these companies be able to do this, or should there be other processes in place or is there some sort of tax royalty that is put in place on water bottling exports as well."

It comes as Aotearoa Water Action filed legal papers against E-Can and two water bottling companies including Cloud Ocean Water.

The company has consent to drill the bore, but does not yet have consent to take water from it.

Last year, a petition was started over bottling consents that garnered more than 100,000 signatures.

Genevieve Robinson started the petition late 2017, and says plenty of people remain angry that this hasn't been resolved.

"It's very interesting that 103,000 people, which is a heck of a lot, have signed a petition. They've just had enough."