A New Zealand bottled water company wants to suck a Unesco world heritage site dry to build ‘the largest production bottling plant in the southern hemisphere’.

This monstrosity will drain a staggering 6.9 million litres a day from Putaruru's Blue Spring in the Waihou River. Water there is renowned for its colour and clarity -- and it's classified as a natural treasure in neighbouring New Zealand.

Every drop of this pure, artesian water will be exported for at least 15 years if the bottled water company, NZ Pure Blue, has its way. The most precious natural resource will be bottled, processed, and shipped overseas -- all in the name of corporate profit.

There’s. No. Way. Tell the South Waikato Regional Council to protect Putaruru's precious Blue Spring.

We don’t even know how much NZ Pure Blue will pay for some of the purest water in the world that's right in our neck of the woods -- but we do know it won’t be anything close to what it’s worth.

There aren’t royalty laws like there are for oil and gas -- even gravel has them -- despite the fact that water in the southern hemisphere is our most precious and valuable resource.

What we do know is that we can stop it. When this same company tried to drain the drought-prone Canterbury Plains of the South Island for corporate profit, tens of thousands of Kiwi SumOfUs members stood up and said no. And we killed it. Now NZ Pure Blue thinks it can just move house and try again.

Our members in New Zealand stopped it in Ashburton. Australian SumOfUs members like you can help stop the exploitation of pristine lakes too: by standing with our neighbours. 

Photo credit to: Te Hiiritanga Wepiha of the Ngai Te Rangi tribe. Instagram: @thepyramidarchitect

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