Source: Greenpeace
Greenpeace Aotearoa says Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) latest groundwater quality survey confirms that Canterbury is still in a nitrate emergency, as nitrate contamination continues to rise in a majority of monitored wells across the region.
ECan’s Annual Groundwater Quality Survey revealed that 70.1% of the wells tested had nitrate concentrations of greater than or equal to 1 mg/L (NO3-N). The risk of bowel cancer increases at 1 mg/L of nitrate in drinking water, and the risk of preterm birth increases at 5 mg/L.
Of the wells assessed for long-term trends, 59% showed likely or very likely increasing nitrate concentrations over the past decade. Higher nitrate levels remained overwhelmingly concentrated in areas dominated by intensive dairy farming.
The report was released today, just as news reported that Ministry of Education data showed drinking water at over 20 schools had nitrate levels of 5.6 mg/L or higher.
Greenpeace Aotearoa Programme Director Niamh O’Flynn says, “The findings are entirely unsurprising. Despite the fact that thousands of rural Cantabrians can’t safely drink the water coming from their kitchen tap, the culprit – the intensive dairy industry – is still expanding in the region.
“These samples are from 2025, but in just the last year, consent has been given for tens of thousands more dairy cows in Canterbury. You can’t allow the source of the problem – too many cows – to get worse, and expect the contamination to get better.”
In September, Greenpeace criticised Environment Canterbury’s vote to ‘resolve’ their declaration of a nitrate emergency in the region, despite nothing being done to actually deal with it.
“This survey confirms what rural Cantabrians already know. Their drinking water is being steadily poisoned by intensive dairying and its cancer fertiliser,” says O’Flynn.
“Voluntary industry measures and a lack of regulation have failed Cantabrians. This is an ongoing nitrate emergency, and regulators need to start acting like it.”
“We are calling on the Government – no matter which Chris is in charge after the 7th of November – to stand up for rural communities and phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, stop dairy expansion, and reinstate freshwater protections. Clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right, not a luxury to be had only if you live far away from industrial dairying.”