On the east coast of New Zealand, a Chinese-owned company has been pumping increasing amounts of water from a local aquifer to quench growing demand among consumers for high-end spring water.

Sales of bottled water by OnePure International Group have grown exponentially since it opened for business five years ago, and most of its products are shipped to China and other parts of Asia. Last year, it pumped close to three million gallons of spring water from below one of New Zealand’s prime wine-growing districts, to the chagrin of some in the local community.

Bottled water has triggered an environmental backlash in much of the developed world, where single-use plastic containers of all sorts have been under scrutiny. But all the water that goes into those bottles is also raising alarm.

“We are worried it could become problematic,” said Leanne Cotter-Arlidge, who runs a nonprofit in Hawke’s Bay, the region where OnePure and six other bottled-water operations have been tapping aquifers. The concern, she said, is that the companies will extract too much water and deprive cities and farms in the area of a valuable resource. Her organization is trying to lobby for stepped-up water regulation in the local community and to stop more bottled-water companies from setting up.

OnePure, for its part, said it has worked hard to give back to the local community through sponsorship of local events, and that it is currently pumping less than one-fifth of the water it has been allocated.