An admission by the Canterbury regional council that groundwater levels are very low is being described as a sad victory for those who fought to stop a water bottling plant being established in Ashburton.
ECan confirmed yesterday 86 percent of Canterbury bores were at very low levels. Photo: RNZ / Patrick Phelps
Campaign group Bung the Bore opposed the Ashburton District Council selling a site with attached water consents to a bottling company.
The sale did not go through, but Bung the Bore started legal action against the water consent, which was still valid.
The Environment Canterbury (ECan) regional council released its latest drought update yesterday, showing 86 percent of the region's bores were very low.
Bung the Bore spokeswoman Jen Branji said she felt the group's point had now been made, and it had withdrawn the action.
"It's a very sad victory actually because we knew - people were screaming at us saying 'our bores have gone dry, we've got no water', and we knew that Canterbury groundwater was in a really bad state."