$70M water export1 contract secured

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 2

$70M water export 1 contract secured

PA Wellington A $7O million contract to export Fiordland’s fresh water from Deep Cove, Doubtful Sound, to California has been secured by the Oklahoma-based Triune Resources Corporation.

“We have advised the Government that Triune has secured a contract to supply United Grocers, Ltd, of Calfornia a minimum of 223,000 tonnes of fresh water a month over a period of five years. This volume is equivalent to one 50,000-ton tanker every six days,” said Mr James Beauchamp, the corporation’s president in Wellington yesterday.

“This initial contract is expected to gross $7O million of which $5O million will be retained in New Zealand,” he said. Triune has a water right to tap the tailraces leading from Lake Manapouri into Deep Cove. It presented an environmental impact report on its proposals in March and the Commission for the Environment expects to complete its audit of the report by July 2. “While we already have a water right, none of our contracts can be initiated unless we can gain within the next two months the necessary additional approvals to load water,” Mr Beauchamp said.

The contract had provision to escalate exports to 2,788,000 tonnes a month which would be 12.5 times the minimum order. The exported water would be used in California and Hong Kong.