{"id":52865,"date":"2022-08-11T16:05:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T04:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=52865"},"modified":"2024-07-11T12:56:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T00:56:17","slug":"waikato-council-report-blames-intensive-dairy-for-worsening-groundwater-nitrate-but-fails-to-warn-pregnant-women-of-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/waikato-council-report-blames-intensive-dairy-for-worsening-groundwater-nitrate-but-fails-to-warn-pregnant-women-of-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Waikato Council report blames intensive dairy for worsening groundwater nitrate but fails to warn pregnant women of risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A Waikato Regional Council <a href=\"https:\/\/waikatorc.sharepoint.com\/sites\/DSDocumentBank\/Shared%20Documents\/Forms\/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FDSDocumentBank%2FShared%20Documents%2F5%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%2F2022%2F2022%2D08%2D11%20%2D%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%20%2D%20Open%20Agenda%20%2D%2011%20August%202022%2Epdf&amp;parent=%2Fsites%2FDSDocumentBank%2FShared%20Documents%2F5%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%2F2022&amp;p=true&amp;ga=1\">report<\/a> presented today on Groundwater Nitrates in the region, shows extreme nitrate contamination in some areas and says three quarters of wells exceed levels linked to bowel cancer in a 2018 Danish Study but fails to warn of nitrate risks to pregnant women.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a health justice issue,\u201d says Greenpeace Senior Campaigner Steve Abel, \u201caccess to safe and uncontaminated drinking water is a basic human right and currently that right is not being met for many people living outside of cities in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace says the figure that 22% of monitored wells exceeded legal limits of 11.3mg\/L associated with Blue Baby Syndrome is \u201cstriking\u201d and showed Waikato groundwater nitrate contamination to be potentially even worse than Canterbury in some areas.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cWhile the report acknowledges intensive dairy farming and other agricultural activity is to blame for high nitrates, it fails to mention synthetic nitrogen fertiliser despite<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stats.govt.nz\/indicators\/fertilisers-nitrogen-and-phosphorus#:~:text=and%20cultural%20identity.-,Key%20findings,-Between%201991%20and\"> Waikato being the second biggest user after Canterbury<\/a>,\u201d says Greenpeace Senior Campaigner Steve Abel.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe report also misleadingly describes nitrate levels under 5.65 mg\/L as \u201clow\u201d when nitrate above 5 mg\/L is very high by comparison with most of New Zealanders\u2019 water supplies. It is at a level that the New Zealand College of Midwives suggest pregnant women avoid due to associations with reproductive impacts including preterm and underweight births,\u201d says Abel.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cHundreds of household water supplies in Waikato could be exceeding that 5mg\/L reproductive risk level and the Regional Council has an absolute duty to warn those communities of the potential health risks and do something about it,\u201d says Abel.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>A recent case of potential underweight birth from nitrate in Waikato water supplies was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/national\/128986021\/pollution-in-the-well-if-youre-pregnant-you-should-be-told-to-get-your-water-tested\">reported by Stuff<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cSaying that 5 mg\/L is \u201clow\u201d for nitrate is very misleading,\u201d says Abel. \u201cScientists suggest around 138,000 New Zealanders drink water 5mg and higher while 80% of the country drinks water with under 1 mg\/L &#8211; under one can be correctly called low for nitrate.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.midwife.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Advice-to-member-Nitrates-May-2021-1.pdf\">an advisory from May 2021<\/a>, the College of Midwives say \u201cAlthough the current MAV (Maximum Allowable Value) for nitrates in drinking water supplies is equivalent to 11.3mg\/L, it is prudent to take a precautionary approach and consider the lower threshold of 5mg\/L (or lower) as safer for pregnant women.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>The new Waikato report, entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/waikatorc.sharepoint.com\/sites\/DSDocumentBank\/Shared%20Documents\/Forms\/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FDSDocumentBank%2FShared%20Documents%2F5%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%2F2022%2F2022%2D08%2D11%20%2D%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%20%2D%20Open%20Agenda%20%2D%2011%20August%202022%2Epdf&amp;parent=%2Fsites%2FDSDocumentBank%2FShared%20Documents%2F5%20Environmental%20Performance%20Committee%2F2022&amp;p=true&amp;ga=1\">\u201c<em>Groundwater Nitrates \u2013 potential hotspots, legacies and lag<\/em>\u201d<\/a> was presented to the council\u2019s Environment Performance Committee meeting today. It found that from 2016-2020, 22% of groundwater from wells in the <em>State of the environment monitoring programme<\/em> exceeded legally allowable levels of 11.3 mg\/L at least once. The median concentrations from the same five-year period also exceeded guidelines at 11% of SOE wells and 5% of the community wells including school supplies. And noted that the Community network \u201cshows more degrading trends (22.5%) than improving (6.25%).\u201d&nbsp; The report says the areas with the highest concentrations are aquifers in Pukekohe and Pukekawa and parts of the Hauraki Plains and that, \u201cThe highest concentrations are associated with market gardening and dairy farming activities.\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n<p>Abel says \u201cIndustrial dairy &#8211; and the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser that drives it &#8211; is responsible for worsening nitrate contamination of drinking water across New Zealand.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cEveryone has a right of access to safe drinking water, yet rural households are most at risk from having their water contaminated with nitrate that is both a risk for babies in utero and potentially carcinogenic.\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n<p>Abel says that the National Environmental Standards-Drinking Water review currently underway, is \u201can opportunity to ensure safe drinking water for all\u201d, and is urging Minister Kiritapu Allen and the government to \u201caddress the main causes of water contamination in Aotearoa \u2013 synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and too many dairy cows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cBoth central Government and regional councils need to protect rural people on household bore supplies from nitrate by acknowledging&nbsp; the sheer volume of animal excreta \u2013 mainly dairy cow urine \u2013 leached into the ground as the primary source of nitrate contamination and cutting fertiliser and stocking rates to address it,\u201d said Abel.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace is calling on Central and Regional Government to ensure healthy water for all communities by protecting drinking water sources through phasing out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser; lowering dairy cow stocking rates; and backing farmers to move to regenerative organic farming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>People who rely on bore water for their drinking supplies can order free mail-in nitrate water testing <a href=\"http:\/\/petition.act.greenpeace.org.nz\/agriculture-nitrate-testing-request?_ga=2.162226997.80292630.1660073448-847857189.1658470309\">here<\/a>.<\/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>A Waikato Regional Council report presented today on Groundwater Nitrates in the region, shows extreme nitrate contamination in some areas and says three quarters of wells exceed levels linked to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":52480,"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":[19],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-52865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-food-and-farming","p4-page-type-press-release"],"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>Waikato Council report blames intensive 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