Court dashes hope on Otakiri water bottling 21 Dec 2020 09:33 AM Photo: Otakiri Springs Water. Bay of Plenty iwi Ngati Awa is disappointed at a High Court judgment knocking back its challenge to the massive expansion of a water bottling plant at Otakiri by its new Chinese owners. Justice Ian Gault confirmed Environment Court findings that water bottling was rural processing activity, that Treaty of Waitangi and kaitiaki consideration had been taken into account, and the possibility millions of plastic bottles could end up as litter was outside the scope of the consent. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa chief executive Leonie Simpson says the iwi put a massive effort into fighting the plan to produce up to 80,000 bottles of water an hour.