Aotearoa Water Action Inc v Canterbury Regional Council - [2022] 3 NZLR 918

Judicial review — Consent to use water — “take, use, dam or divert” are disjunctive — Not necessarily combine take and use — Resource Management Act 1991 ss 14 and 30.

Judicial review — Consent to use water — Land and Water Regional Plan in part uses “take and use” as single activity — Considerations do not work where relying on pre-existing take consent — Where “take and use” cannot be considered separately — Council did not have power to grant resource consent limited to the use of the water.

Resource management — Consent to take water — Whether water could be used for bottling rather than industrial purposes — “take, use, dam or divert” are disjunctive — Take and use not necessarily combined — Whether water in bottles could be considered in tank or cistern and hence excluded from “use”.