This is a follow-up from my article in Watchdog 162 (April 2023, "Whanganui Waters Are Not For Sale. Whanganui Community Protest"). We are a community group from Whanganui called No Water No Future, who opposed groundwater from a local bore being sold for profit to an anonymous overseas company. In September 2022, Aquifer 182 Holding Company was granted resource consent by Horizons Regional Council (Manawatu/Whanganui) to extract and sell 750,000 litres a week of groundwater and to make ice from an existing capped bore on land the company owns on the Whanganui River's east bank.

An appeal was lodged with the Environment Court in October 2022 by Whanganui hapu and iwi, stating it was against the bottling consent. Despite opposition, consent was given. We held two successful public meetings in late 2022. About 500 people attended these meetings concerning the "theft of our waters". Support for ongoing action was loud and clear. We felt encouraged to take the community's concerns a step further.

Hikoi Wai Mana

After months of careful planning, we decided on a public demonstration, with a march through the middle of Whanganui's business centre. The air was crisp on Tuesday 21st March, people from all walks of life gathered at Majestic Square in the town centre, excited and expectant. Led by a police escort, we slowly weaved our way along Victoria Avenue chanting "our waters are not for sale" which had shopkeepers scurrying out to see what was going on.

Mokopuna from Te Kura o Kokohuia led the demonstration, holding their banners high, displaying "Papatuanuku's veins are not for sale" and "Water is the blood of the land". It was appropriate that mokopuna led the way because the No Water No Future movement is about our future generations. Our destination was the Whanganui City Council chambers where we were met by the Mayor, Andrew Tripe, who welcomed us into the debating chambers where the City Councillors were seated and waiting. Our supporters squeezed in and around the walls, forming a tight fit in the Council chamber.

Originally, we were given ten minutes to speak so we decided to share the time among three people for impact, three minutes each, short and to the point. In fact, the whole session, including karanga, karakia, waiata and korero and the handing over of a petition with over 5,000 signatures, took about an hour. I was disappointed with the lack of response from a room full of City Councillors. Apart from one question from a youngish Councillor about what Te Awa Tupua means, there was no response. I wasn't expecting them to agree with anything we said but it would have been good to have heard their point of view.

Video link here: (from 2:54:00 hours onwards)
Local news coverage: Whanganui hapū, iwi and community rally to protest the bottling of their water

What Did We Achieve?

Did we accomplish what we wanted? Firstly; we were successful in bringing a sizeable number of people together for a peaceful demonstration on an issue highlighted by a local group. As our groundwaters are linked to the river, so we are a continuation of the long struggle for the care and protection of our River rights. Our designated speakers had presented their case with respect and dignity. And, finally, the Whanganui City Council got a close-up look at the strength and feeling of our local community.

No Communication From Whanganui City Council

To date, we have not received any communication from the Whanganui City Council. This means that we must keep up the momentum and let the wider community know that we have only just begun to exert our collective strength. Whatever it takes, we will do all in our power to stop this terrible injustice from going ahead through the actions of everyday ordinary people.

What Next?

We will continue to build a strong foundation of public support for further public actions so that our organisation cannot be ignored. We will continue to bring up the issue of protection for our ground waters and to keep it constantly before the public. We are available to share our knowledge of this important issue with different groups in our area at any time.

We want to highlight the fact that we are a protection group, a community of carers and lovers of our environment and not a protest group. We want to build interest particularly among students of all ages because this issue is about their future wellbeing. The planning of our water movement group is ongoing; there is more to do and more to come. Our flyers are ready to go out to the public at any time now.

Water For All - A Global Issue

Our struggle here in Whanganui is part of a worldwide struggle to keep water as a public trust. We must advocate and defend "water for all" as a human right. Developing a critical consciousness is part of our ongoing awareness-raising education. We must be wary of recommendations that take responsibility away from local and national governments on water issues and hand them over to private companies, especially transnationals. We must link to communities who have successfully resolved problems relating to water and learn from them. We must find out more about companies who sell bottled water in our local and other communities and to offer our support.

Conserve

We have to continually think of ways we can conserve water in the home, fix leaky taps, limit lawn watering, long showers and support alternative methods of sewage management (dry sanitation). We have to revive traditional knowledge and practices for water harvesting. We have to protect the watershed by encouraging programmes and campaigns to plant trees. We need to build awareness concerning the importance of healthy grasslands, farmlands, wetlands and woodland; this is the best insurance against water scarcity. We need to Involve the wider community in planning and implementing strategies to defend and preserve water

Defend

As part of a worldwide water movement, we must defend the rights of local communities to manage their water resources. This means that we must question critically the liberalisation and commercialisation of services for water and sanitation. We must defend advocacy at local national and international levels. This means that we must know how water is managed in our town, city, region and country. We need to find out what the water and sanitation policies are in our own area.

We need to pay particular attention to what our Government's position is on overseas trade, for example. At times, we need to consult reputable non-Government organisations (NGOs) or other experts for this information and work with them to defend basic rights to water. We have to target the Minister for Trade to defend in clear language negotiations about access to household water and basic sanitation services; and we need to limit the use of lawn fertilisers and be sure to use only phosphorous-free fertilisers.

Change

Let's be an educated consumer, buy recycled environmentally friendly products. Let's support campaigns that are working to ensure a just legal framework for the protection of, and access to, water and for sanitation facilities. We can make changes to our daily habits and help reduce water pollution and water use. Sometimes we can drive, bike, walk or carpool more to help reduce the production of toxic air pollutants that cause acid rain. We can take a shower rather than a bath. If under five minutes you can save up to 1,000 gallons per month. We can turn down our water heater temperature and reduce energy use and help curb pollutants that cause acid rain.