The country's top court has turned down appeals from two water bottling companies in Canterbury.
Cloud Ocean Water and Rapaki Natural Resources had extracted billions of litres from Christchurch's aquifers each year under a decades-old consent granted for industrial use.
The Supreme Court sat in Christchurch for the first time earlier this year, and yesterday released its decision dismissing their appeal.
Aotearoa Water Action chair Peter Richardson says he's thrilled with the decision - but it might not be over just yet.
"It's perhaps not the end of the matter, it depends on what Cloud Ocean decides to do. They may surrender their existing consent and apply pressure for a new consent. But it would have problems."
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