The Government is defending its treatment of the bottled water industry, saying more taxes would be pointless.

Opponents say foreign companies are paying very little to bottle New Zealand water, and it should have higher taxes, or even be stopped entirely.

But Environment Minister Nick Smith said it's a very small use of our water, and there are bigger fish to fry.

He said bottled water accounts for "not one percent, not 0.1 percent, it's 0.004 percent" of our water usage.

"It's about as logical as saying that you're going to solve Auckland's traffic congestion problem by banning bikes."