Greenpeace has criticised Environment Canterbury for refusing to offer free water testing to rural communities affected by nitrate contamination.
ECan councillors voted to implement a region-wide awareness campaign to inform private well owners about water quality risks and approved a pilot study to test select drinking water bores for nitrate and E. coli in high-risk areas.
However, they rejected a proposal to provide free water testing events, citing high costs—an argument Greenpeace disputes.
Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe said the decision was “disgraceful,” accusing ECan of shifting responsibility onto rural residents while failing to regulate intensive dairy farming, which he said was the primary source of Canterbury’s water pollution.
“Safe, healthy drinking water is a fundamental human right, yet Canterbury is the hotspot for drinking water contamination in Aotearoa,” Appelbe said. “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.”
New Zealand’s drinking water standard for nitrate is 11.3 mg/L, a limit set in the 1950s in response to Blue Baby Syndrome. However, Greenpeace pointed to research suggesting health risks at much lower levels. A Danish study found an increased risk of bowel cancer at over 1 mg/L of nitrate, while a Californian study in 2021 reported a 47% rise in preterm birth risk for pregnant people consuming water with nitrate levels above 5 mg/L.
Appelbe said ECan had failed for decades to protect water sources and was now trying to avoid the financial burden of addressing the issue.
“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,” he said. “There is no justification for choosing to run a communications campaign instead of actively helping the communities impacted by nitrate.”
Greenpeace is urging ECan to phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and impose stricter regulations on the dairy industry to prevent further nitrate pollution.
In the meantime, they argue, the council should at least offer free water testing to ensure residents know whether their drinking water is safe.
