Source: Greenpeace
Greenpeace Aotearoa has installed a mobile bar serving nitrate-contaminated water on Parliament lawn, and is calling on MPs to lower the nitrate limit in drinking water.
Greenpeace Aotearoa Agriculture Campaigner Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn says, “Today, we’ve brought nitrate-contaminated water from rural homes in Southland in Canterbury, directly to the people in government. We’re asking MPs if they’ll drink the same contaminated water that rural families are forced to drink because of outdated government policies.”
Greenpeace has installed a mobile bar offering samples of nitrate-contaminated water on parliament lawn. The bar is offering samples from parts of the country most impacted by nitrate contamination.
“We should all be able to trust that the water coming out of their kitchen tap is safe to drink. But right now, it’s perfectly legal for a town to supply its residents with water that could lead to an increased risk in bowel cancer, or pre-term birth. Only the people in Government can change that.”
Nitrate contamination at levels as low as 1 mg/L has been linked to an increased risk of bowel cancer. At levels of 5 mg/L, there is an increased risk of preterm birth for pregnant people drinking the water.
New Zealand’s legal limit (Maximum Allowable Value) for nitrate in drinking water is 11.3 mg/L – a level set in the 1950s in response to Blue Baby Syndrome. Increasingly, rural drinking water is exceeding this limit – which Greenpeace says is already too high.
“It’s simple, the current nitrate limit in New Zealand is dangerously high. It’s out of date and does not sufficiently protect families from the very serious risks associated with nitrate in drinking water.”
The leading cause of nitrate contamination in groundwater and drinking water is cow urine from the oversized dairy herd and synthetic nitrogen fertiliser used by the intensive dairy industry.
“Successive governments have facilitated pollution from the intensive dairy industry, but this has to stop. Peoples’ lives are at stake. The government must prioritise the health of all New Zealanders over dairy industry profits and lower the nitrate limit now.”
