New Zealand anger as pristine lakes tapped for bottled water market
by Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin from on (#2H5VA)
Residents and greens groups demand action to stop plan to plunder natural resources by companies that pay next to nothing to remove water
A plan to extract millions of litres of water out of a Unesco world heritage site, send it by pipe to the coast and ship it to foreign markets for bottling has ignited a campaign over water resources in New Zealand.
An export company is proposing to collect 800m litres a month of the "untapped" glacial waters of Lake Greaney and Lake Minim Mere, mountainous dams that are fed by rainfall on the Southern Alps.