Greenpeace Aotearoa is shocked by the decision by Environment Canterbury to not provide free water testing for rural communities impacted by nitrate contamination.

ECan voted in favour of running region wide awareness communication campaigns for private well owners on water quality risks, and commissioning a pilot study to test a number of private drinking water bores for nitrate and E. coli in high risk areas.

However, they stopped short of running region wide water testing events for private well owners, claiming this would be too costly - a claim Greenpeace disputes.

Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe says "It is disgraceful to see that Environment Canterbury will not be providing free water testing to rural communities. Instead, it is leaving them to pay the price of ECan’s failure to regulate the intensive dairy industry, Canterbury’s primary source of water pollution at the source."

"Safe, healthy drinking water is a fundamental human right, yet Canterbury is the hotspot for drinking water contamination in Aotearoa.

"While it’s good to see ECan paying more attention to the issue of drinking water quality, a communications campaign and pilot study is simply not good enough. People across Canterbury are already experiencing high levels of nitrate in their drinking water, and they deserve to know whether the water coming out of their kitchen tap is safe to drink."

The maximum acceptable value for nitrate in New Zealand drinking water is 11.3 mg/L, set in the 1950s in response to Blue Baby Syndrome. However, a growing field of research shows potential health risks at much lower levels of nitrate in drinking water.

A Danish study found that at over 1 mg/L of nitrate in drinking water, risks of bowel cancer increase, while a US evaluation found health risks increased with every additional milligram. A Californian study in 2021 found that when pregnant people consumed water that was over 5 mg/L of nitrate, the risk of preterm birth increased by 47%.

"ECan has a responsibility to protect water at the source, and for decades they have failed to do so. Now, the consequences are becoming clear, and they’re desperately trying to avoid the costs associated with that. But that is not good enough," says Appelbe.

"Ultimately, unless ECan enforces a phase out of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and acts to regulate the intensive dairy industry, nitrate pollution will worsen and so will the health impacts associated with long-term exposure to nitrate. But the bare minimum they should be doing is providing free water testing.

"The costs associated with running free water testing events, as outlined in the proposal presented to councillors today, represent a mere 0.05% of ECan’s 2023-2024 budget.

"There is no justification for choosing to run a communications campaign instead of actively helping the communities impacted by nitrate. We’re calling on ECan to protect local residents and ensure everyone, no matter where they live, knows whether the water coming out of their tap is safe to drink."

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