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Green Party launch bill to protect aquifers

Author
Newstalk ZB staff ,
Publish Date
Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 5:58PM
James Shaw and Metiria Turei in Parliament. (Getty)
James Shaw and Metiria Turei in Parliament. (Getty)

Green Party launch bill to protect aquifers

Author
Newstalk ZB staff ,
Publish Date
Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 5:58PM

The Green Party wants to make aquifers, or underground water sources, "water bodies of national significance".

It has launched a Members Bill that would change the Resource Management Act to lift the status of aquifers, so they're looked after in the same way as rivers and lakes.

Co-leader James Shaw says anyone who intends to draw from one will have to go through the RMA first.

"A bottling company for example would have to go through the same Resource Management Act application as they would an above-ground body of water that was similarly protected."

Mr Shaw said 40 percent of New Zealanders rely on aquifers for their drinking water, and they're critical to the health of the country's wetlands, and lowland rivers and lakes.

"New Zealanders should not have to question their access to, or the safety of, fresh water," he said.

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