The Government says it will ignore a 15-thousand-strong petition calling for a ban on exports of bottled water.

The Bung the Bore campaigners want an export moratorium.

The Environment Minister Nick Smith has called the move farcical, given bottling plants made up only a small fraction of water use in New Zealand.

But Green party co-leader James Shaw told Morning Report he's supporting the call for an export moratorium.

This was the Environment Minister's response.