{"id":16501,"date":"2021-06-01T11:10:46","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T23:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=16501"},"modified":"2024-07-11T14:13:15","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T02:13:15","slug":"worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Greenpeace is redoubling calls for government action to <a href=\"https:\/\/petition.act.greenpeace.org.nz\/agriculture-fertiliser\">cut synthetic nitrogen fertiliser<\/a> following two days of drinking water testing in Canterbury, which confirmed that nitrate contamination in drinking water is worsening.<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace tested 225 water samples at Dunsandel (123) and Woodend (102) this weekend. The two events were hosted by Greenpeace in conjunction with the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers, who undertook the testing using their spectrometer.<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace senior campaigner Steve Abel says the turnout showed the level of public awareness about nitrate contamination and its causes, and highlighted regional differences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cEven in Canterbury\u2019s code-red weather event people showed up in their dozens to find the state of their water. Local communities are clearly concerned about nitrate contamination, as research emerges about the health risks &#8211; from bowel cancer to premature births,\u201d says Abel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>At Dunsandel, five water samples (4% of the total tested), measured over the World Health Organisation limit for nitrate allowed in drinking water (11.3mg\/L), with the highest being 12.9 mg\/L. <\/strong>The WHO limit is set to avoid blue baby syndrome.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>74% were over 0.87mg\/L, the concentration associated with increased incidence of bowel cancers in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.odt.co.nz\/star-news\/star-national\/drinking-water-nitrate-limit-11-times-higher-it-should-be-health-expert\"> a comprehensive 2018 Danish study<\/a>, and 27% over 5mg\/L, which<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/pubhealthexpert\/nitrate-contamination-in-drinking-water-and-adverse-birth-outcomes-emerging-evidence-is-concerning-for-nz\/\"> an American study<\/a> showed could increase the risk of premature birth by almost half.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>In Woodend there were notably fewer high readings: 31% of samples were over 0.87 mg\/L, 6% over 5mg\/L and none over the current World Health Organisation limit.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>\u201cNobody should have to wonder that their tap water might be making them or their baby sick. Our findings from this weekend, particularly around Dunsandel in the Selwyn Water Zone, show nitrate groundwater contamination is getting worse. This should really raise the alarm for central and local government,\u201d<\/strong> says Abel.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cOne guy near Dunsandel just spent $10,000 to drill a deeper bore. His existing bore was reading over the World Health Organisation limit at 12.9mg\/L. He brought us a sample from the freshly drilled bore, only to discover it was still high at 10.6mg\/L. He said it was a \u2018kick in the teeth\u2019 to have spent all that money for so little improvement in the nitrate level.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s outrageous that bore owners are having to foot the bill for nitrate contamination caused by big polluters like the fertiliser companies. We know nitrate contamination is much worse in 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 communities&#8217; water.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re calling on the Government to lower the limit on nitrate allowed in our water; phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser; lower cow stocking rates and support farmers to shift to regenerative organic farming.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>Dr. Tim Chambers, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Otago who is studying human health impacts of nitrate, attended the testing at Woodend on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe hardest thing with our study is collating the data on nitrate in drinking water across the country. Once you have that, it\u2019s easier to look at other conditions that might be affected by nitrate contamination,\u201d says Dr Chambers.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>\u201cWith colorectal cancer, the concern is long-term chronic exposure. That\u2019s why the link with adverse birth outcomes is troubling, because it\u2019s a relatively short exposure &#8211; just during that prenatal period &#8211; but the consequences can be quite severe.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Peter Trolove from the Federation of Freshwater Anglers, who provided the spectrometer and undertook the testing, says, <strong>\u201cThings 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 &#8211; we know nitrate is highly toxic to river species and it\u2019s turning out to be toxic for people too.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>ENDS<\/p>\n\t\t\t<section\n\t\t\tclass=\"boxout post-15019 \"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Image\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"cover-card-overlay\"\n\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-ban-synthetic-nitrogen-fertiliser\/\" \n\t\t\t><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows-1024x576.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows-510x287.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2018\/12\/d90cd49a-nz-dairy-cows.jpg 1418w\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 358px, (min-width: 780px) 313px, 88px\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Dairy cows\" title=\"Dairy cows\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n            \t\t\t<div class=\"boxout-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"boxout-heading medium\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Title\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-ban-synthetic-nitrogen-fertiliser\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Ban synthetic nitrogen fertiliser\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"boxout-excerpt\">Sign on now to call on the New Zealand Govt to ban chemical nitrogen fertiliser.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t                                    <a\n                        class=\"btn btn-primary\"\n                        data-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n                        data-ga-action=\"Call to Action\"\n                        data-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n                        href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/petition\/petition-ban-synthetic-nitrogen-fertiliser\/\"\n                        \n                    >\n                        Take Action\n                    <\/a>\n                \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greenpeace is redoubling calls for government action to cut synthetic nitrogen fertiliser following two days of drinking water testing in Canterbury, which confirmed that nitrate contamination in drinking water is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":16503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-16501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greenpeace is redoubling calls for government action to cut synthetic nitrogen fertiliser following two days of drinking water testing in Canterbury, which confirmed that nitrate contamination in drinking water is&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Abel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Abel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Abel\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1\"},\"headline\":\"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\",\"name\":\"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1333},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1\",\"name\":\"Steve Abel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc6fed7bab1b33d42a38f7ac5c140cb3f9e580f75927d2baecb26b7625991018?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc6fed7bab1b33d42a38f7ac5c140cb3f9e580f75927d2baecb26b7625991018?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Abel\"},\"description\":\"Steve Abel is a long-time environmental and climate activist who was part of the successful campaign to end native logging on crown land in the late 1990s; the GE Free environment campaign in the early 2000s; the Greenpeace campaign to stop Marsden B coalfired power station in 2005; and the alliance with Te Wh\u0101nau-\u0101-Apanui against Petrobras which led to a seven-year campaign that culminated in the end to offshore oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa in 2018. Abel is part of the urban tree protection group \u2013 Mana R\u0101kau \u2013 which emerged from the 240+ day occupation of the Canal Road native tree stand in Avondale that began in 2020. From 2021, as Senior Campaigner for Greenpeace Aotearoa, Steve led the project to provide free nitrate water testing for rural people on bore supplies impacted by dairy contamination. Having first volunteered for Greenpeace in 1997, Abel resigned from the organisation in early 2023 to stand for parliament.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/sabel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes","og_description":"Greenpeace is redoubling calls for government action to cut synthetic nitrogen fertiliser following two days of drinking water testing in Canterbury, which confirmed that nitrate contamination in drinking water is&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1333,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Abel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Abel","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Abel","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1"},"headline":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes","datePublished":"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/"},"wordCount":651,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg","articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/","name":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-31T23:10:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-11T02:13:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2021\/06\/5ad14c4e-gp-water-testing-dunsandel-\u00a9-zoe-deans-2.jpg","width":2000,"height":1333},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/worsening-nitrate-contamination-adds-to-canterbury-water-woes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Worsening nitrate contamination adds to Canterbury water woes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cf59518fab08f1f4b5027e75b37b66d1","name":"Steve Abel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc6fed7bab1b33d42a38f7ac5c140cb3f9e580f75927d2baecb26b7625991018?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc6fed7bab1b33d42a38f7ac5c140cb3f9e580f75927d2baecb26b7625991018?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Steve Abel"},"description":"Steve Abel is a long-time environmental and climate activist who was part of the successful campaign to end native logging on crown land in the late 1990s; the GE Free environment campaign in the early 2000s; the Greenpeace campaign to stop Marsden B coalfired power station in 2005; and the alliance with Te Wh\u0101nau-\u0101-Apanui against Petrobras which led to a seven-year campaign that culminated in the end to offshore oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa in 2018. Abel is part of the urban tree protection group \u2013 Mana R\u0101kau \u2013 which emerged from the 240+ day occupation of the Canal Road native tree stand in Avondale that began in 2020. From 2021, as Senior Campaigner for Greenpeace Aotearoa, Steve led the project to provide free nitrate water testing for rural people on bore supplies impacted by dairy contamination. Having first volunteered for Greenpeace in 1997, Abel resigned from the organisation in early 2023 to stand for parliament.","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/sabel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16501"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50051,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions\/50051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16501"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=16501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}