Indigo Council will start preparing to spend “a fortune” on expected legal costs after it blocked an application to extract groundwater from Stanley for a bottled water business.
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Apple orchard owner Boyd Collins applied to extract 19 megalitres of groundwater per year using an existing 60 metre deep bore on his land, then transport it to Albury to be bottled.
Mr Collins has been a supporter of Stanley’s other water mining point at Cue Springs, run by Black Mount Spring Water owner Tim Carey, who controversially won the right to extract 19mL of water per year after a long and expensive fight through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Council staff recommended the new application be approved because the legal barriers would be the same.
But Indigo councillors voted 5-2 at Tuesday night’s meeting and chose to take a stand against mining groundwater for bottling, which prompted a big round of applause from the packed public gallery.
Cr Bernard Gaffney introduced the motion to block the proposed bore because he said it was on prime farming land, in a catchment supplying Beechworth and Yackandandah with water that could potentially run dry in a drought.
“They don’t want to farm anymore, they just want to sit back and watch the money roll in,” he said.
“At some stage we need to stand up, we were elected to represent our community.”
Mayor Jenny O’Connor said she was willing to join the objectors from Stanley in their legal fight.
“This is a finite, precious resource and while I know there is going to be potentially money spent on this going to VCAT, many people have said to me in their view it is money they would willingly give to raise this issue yet again,” she said. “As a councillor, I feel I need to take a stand on an issue of great concern to the community.”
Councillors Larry Goldsworthy and James Trenery were also against the act of groundwater extraction in Stanley, but voted to approve the bore because they did not want the council to start another legal fight they believed it couldn’t win.
“It’s going to cost us a fortune, this is going to cost ratepayers a lot of money,” Cr Trenery said.
Cr Goldworthy said the council’s role was to make a decision based on the planning permits, not moral beliefs about water extraction.
