Greenpeace Aotearoa will be offering its free drinking water testing service in Ashburton and Methven this Friday and Sunday. This is the first time the organisation’s water testing programme has returned to the Ashburton area since 2023, when 77% of samples had elevated levels of nitrate.
Drop-in testing events will be held at the Ashburton Events Centre on Friday, 4 April, 10.30am until 4.30pm, and the Mt Hutt Memorial Hall in Methven on Sunday, 6 April, 1pm until 5pm.
Greenpeace campaigner Will Appelbe says, “Everybody, no matter where they live, should know the water coming out of their tap is safe to drink. But for 20% of the country, especially those living in rural areas, that’s not always the case.
“Canterbury is a hotspot of freshwater contamination in Aotearoa. Many communities are drinking water that is contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate, which can pose health risks.”
A growing body of research shows that nitrate levels in drinking water well below the current legal limits – as low as 1 mg/L NO3-N – can increase the risk of bowel cancer. Last year, drinking water samples from Oxford and Darfield tested at or above 5 mg/L of nitrate, the level which has been associated with an increased risk of pre-term birth. The current maximum allowable value, which was set in the 1950s, is 11.3 mg/L.
“We’re particularly concerned about households on private bores. Previous testing events have found samples with levels as high as 25 mg/L of nitrate contamination in people’s drinking water. These people are often unaware that the water coming out of their kitchen tap is unsafe.”
“I have lived in Canterbury my whole life and seen how the land has been transformed in just a few decades. There are simply too many cows, and it has contaminated the groundwater that Canterbury communities rely on for drinking water.”
“The long-term solution is to phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and move to more sustainable farming practices. As the regulator, Environment Canterbury must take leadership on this. And if they’re unwilling, impacted communities can vote to make a difference later this year at the local elections.”