Tiny town in fight to keep its water out of corporate hands

Residents of a small farming town aren't giving up a David-and-Goliath battle to stop a multinational company shipping millions of litres of groundwater away every year.

Stanley, in Victoria's north-east, has a population of just 350 people.

The town also has no town water, with residents and farmers relying on rainwater, or underground reserves.

One of those farmers, Dave McIntyre, has lived and worked on his chestnut farm for more than 30 years.

He said the community had a right to some say in how the resources were used.

"In the millennial drought, when the bores were down, people were carting water and they were in trouble," he said.

The stoush over the groundwater began a few years ago when the owner of the water mining site got the approval to change an agricultural water licence to a commercial one.

The site sells the water to Asahi Beverages, owner of Schweppes, for bottling.

Resident Tony McDonald said it was leaving the town high and dry.

"It's taking a community resource and making a wheelbarrow of money out of it," he said.

The community tried to prevent the water mining but lost, and are now $90,000 in debt after a failed Supreme Court appeal.

The residents are now appealing directly to Asahi, and petitioning the state government to change the legislation, with more than 100,000 signatures.

Indigo Shire Mayor Jenny O'Connor said under the existing legislation, there was no mechanism to stop the water mining.

"We would like to see that water is actually kept for food production as a priority," she said.

"Not being taken off and put in plastic water bottles.

The Victorian Government and Asahi say the amount of water extracted is extremely minimal and sustainable.

Read their full statements here.