Greenpeace is redoubling calls for government action to cut sunthetic nitrogen fertiliser following two days of drinking water testing in Canterbury, which confirmed that nitrate contamination in drinking water is worsening.
Greenpeace tested 225 water samples and Dunsandel (123) and Woodend (102) in early June.
The two events were run in conjunction with the New Zealand federation of freshwater anglers who undertook the testing used in their spectrometer. Greenpeace senior campaigner Steve Abel said the turn out showed the level of public awareness about nitrate contamination and its causes and highlight had regional differences.
Even in Canterbury's code red weather event people showed up in their dozens to find the state of their water Abel said local communities are clearly concerned about nitrate contamination as research emerges about the health risks from bowel cancer to premature births.
At Dunsandel 5 water samples 4% of the total tested measured over the World Health organization's limit for nitrate allowed and drinking water 11.3 milligrams per liter with the highest being 12.9 milligrams per liter the World Health Organization limited is set to avoid blue baby syndrome. Just on 74% were over 0.87 milligrams per liter the concentration associated with increased incidence of bold cancers in a comprehensive 2018 Danish study and that 27% / 5 milligrams per liter which an American study showed could increase the case of premature births by almost half. And would end there were notable fewer higher readings 31% of the samples were over 0.87 milligrams per liter 6% / 5 milligrams per liter and not over the current World Health Organization limit.
Nobody should have to wonder what their tap water might be making them, or their baby sick. Our findings from the weekend particularly around Dunsandel in the Selwyn District Zone showed nitrate groundwater contamination is getting worse. This should really raise the alarm for central and local government Able said.
One guy near Dunsandel just spent $10,000 to drill a deeper port whose existing bore was reading over the World Health organization summit at 12.9 milligrams per liter he bought a sample from the freshly drug bought only to discover it was still high at 10.6 milligrams per liter he said it was a kick in the teeth to have spent all that money for so little improvement in the nitrate level.
It's outrageous said four owners are happy to foot the bill for nitrate contamination caused by big polluters like the fertilizer companies. We know nitrate contaminates as much worse areas of the country with intensive dairying. Local and central governments need to cut nitrate pollution at its source and ensure the safety of their community’s water.
We are calling on the government to lower the limit on nitrate allowed in our water, phase out synthetic nitrogen fertilizers lower cow stock rates and support farmers to shift to regenerative organic farming.
Dr Tim Chambers, senior Research Fellow at the University of Otago who is studying human health impacts of nitrates attending the testing at Woodend.
The hardest thing with the study is collating the data on nitrate and drinking water across the country. Once you have that it's easier to look at other conditions that might be affected by nitrate contamination, Chambers said.
With colorectal cancer the concern is long term chronic exposure. That's why the link with adverse birth outcomes is troubling because it's a relatively short exposure just during that prenatal period. But the consequences can be quite severe Peter Trolove said from the Federation of Freshwater Anglers who provided the spectrometer and undertook the test’s said things are clearly getting worse. We have been testing surface water since August 2019 in Selwyn and getting nitrate readings far above what is toxic to aquatic ecosystems.
Big Irrigation is not diluting but worsening the contamination across the board. These water systems are all linked up we know nitrate is highly toxic to river species and it's turning out to be toxic for people too.
