Greenpeace Aotearoa is slamming industry lobbyists’ calls to prevent councils from setting their own regulations for fresh water, and calls for local and regional councils to set more ambitious standards for protecting lakes, rivers, and drinking water.

Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe says, "Central government must keep its nose out of local councils’ business on freshwater protection.

"Christopher Luxon’s government has declared war on nature and is stripping away essential protections for water quality in Aotearoa, but that should not stop responsible local governments from putting in place their own protections to safeguard their constituents’ access to safe healthy drinking water."

The Luxon-led Government introduced legislation in May to remove the requirement for consent applicants to comply with Te Mana o Te Wai - the hierarchy of obligations set out under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management which puts the health of freshwater ecosystems and communities ahead of commercial use.

"Everyone should be able to take a dip in their local river, or drink the water coming out of their kitchen tap without worrying that they’ll get sick. But increasingly we’re seeing that rural communities across the country are losing their ability to do so, because freshwater protections are not being prioritised," says Appelbe.

"Successive Governments have failed to regulate New Zealand’s worst freshwater polluter - the intensive dairy industry, who pollute lakes, rivers and drinking water with contaminants like E coli and nitrate. And now, Luxon’s government is removing the only effective freshwater protections New Zealand ever had. In this context, local governments must be allowed to enforce stronger protections to ensure healthy water for all."

Greenpeace recently announced its next round of drinking water testing for nitrate contamination in Amberley and Oxford. The organisation has run more than 20 water testing town hall events since 2021, as well as a mail-in water testing programme, and tested almost two thousand samples of drinking water. In late 2023, Greenpeace launched the Know Your Nitrate map using this data, to help people understand general nitrate levels in their area, and the organisation says demand for drinking water testing has been increasing.

"It is deeply concerning to see industry lobby groups like Federated Farmers calling for central government to prevent councils from protecting the lakes, rivers, and drinking water that they hold responsibility for and that their constituents depend on," says Appelbe.

"We know that everyone, no matter where they live or who they voted for, wants access to safe, healthy drinking water, and right now central government is stripping away the rules that ensure drinking water quality. Local and district councils must be allowed to set stronger protections to safeguard drinking water supplies for generations to come."

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