Greenpeace is welcoming Environment Canterbury’s decision to declare a nitrate emergency, calling it a long-overdue acknowledgement of a worsening health crisis. But the organisation warns that real action must follow, and is urging election candidates to commit to stronger freshwater protections.
Greenpeace’s Canterbury-based spokesperson Will Appelbe says, “Canterbury is facing a nitrate emergency and today, Environment Canterbury has listened to the voices of their constituents and finally acknowledged the seriousness of this issue.”
This morning, frustrated Cantabrians rallied outside ECan to demand urgent action to defend fresh water from nitrate contamination. Residents with high levels of nitrate ‘returned to sender’ jars of their drinking water, while speakers called on incoming councillors to reduce nitrate pollution at the source.
Appelbe says, “Up until now, Environment Canterbury has completely failed in their duty to protect lakes, rivers, and drinking water from pollution from the intensive dairy industry. Their actions have meant that many families in Canterbury cannot safely drink the water coming out of their kitchen tap.”
“It’s great to see ECan finally acknowledging the scale of this escalating health crisis, but the work doesn’t stop here. It’s one thing to sign onto a pledge but another thing entirely to meet it.”
Today ECan councillors will leave their headquarters for the last time before jumping on the campaign trail to try to win Cantabrians’ votes.
“Candidates in the Environment Canterbury election must defend Canterbury’s freshwater by ending dairy expansion and phasing out the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. The question is, who will step up to the task?”
Um finally? Really??? I’m not sure that the Coalition will allow any real measure to mitigate the grave degradation & long term contamination of the already carcinogenic waterways. The system was rigged by Dairy Farming Interests and when the John Key then government sacked the democratically elected Environment Canterbury Councillors to open up the Canterbury Plains for irrigation and stacked the deck by putting in there own commissioners.
Stuff reported at the time this from Russell Norman Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said Prime Minister John Key told MPs at the opening of Parliament this year that the Government would take action to remove regulatory roadblocks to water storage and irrigation in Canterbury.
“The Government has decided that the elected councillors in Canterbury are part of the regulatory roadblocks and they have decided to remove them,” he said.
“The Government has also decided that water conservation orders – the national parks for rivers and lakes – are also a regulatory roadblock to more irrigation and water storage in Canterbury, and so they’re going to be removed as well.”
Dr Norman said free access to water had been a boon to the dairy corporations and the irrigation companies.
“This bill is being set up in order to allow more access – as if there hasn’t been enough – to more of the water resources of Canterbury so more rivers can be dammed, more rivers can be drained, and more water can be polluted.” Ecan & the Corporate Dairy Lobby should have taken a hit on their salaries and buy every single household a reverse osmosis water filtration system
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/113679923/canterbury-water-could-be-undrinkable-in-100-years
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/377890/us-water-scientist-shocked-by-nz-s-water-quality
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment/378607/kidney-failure-causing-pathogen-found-in-canterbury-rivers
https://newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/02/as-democracy-returns-a-river-of-unease-still-flows/
https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/study-takes-national-overview-of-nitrates-in-freshwater/