Toowoomba Regional Council approves water extraction plan by lime farmers to produce more kombucha, future bottling
A pair of lime farmers who applied with the Toowoomba Regional Council to extract groundwater from a bore will use excess amounts to create kombucha.
Council
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A pair of lime farmers who applied with the Toowoomba Regional Council to extract groundwater from a bore will use excess amounts to create kombucha.
Applicants Mark and Natalie Herlaar were approved by the councillors at a special meeting yesterday for an extraction plan at their property in Merritts Creek that would pump up to 18 megalitres per year, primarily to use for irrigation on their lime trees.
While council officer reports showed that about half of that allocation could be loaded onto trucks and used for bottling, the applicants’ town planner Kim Reeve revealed excess water would actually go towards their burgeoning kombucha operation to help diversify the farm’s income.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and associated shutdowns originally led to the applicants to apply for the application when demand for their limes plummeted,” she said.
“The original intent was to supplement farm income by selling water for bottling.
“Through further research, the applicants have identified that selling the water to a bottling company would be the least profitable option.
“They have identified much more favourable profits through developing their own kombucha, which allows them to use both the limes and the water.
“They have run some trials of selling their kombucha at the local farmer’s markets, and have so far sold around 80 litres, which is the equivalent of selling 160,000 litres of water for bottling.”
Ms Reeve said the applicants could use the extraction permit at a later stage if demand for their kombucha increased.
Five submissions from neighbouring landholders were lodged against the development regarding traffic impacts and concerns for its effect on underground aquifers.
The application was approved unanimously by the councillors.