Greenpeace says high levels of nitrate contamination in Waimate town water supply should be a major red flag for all Cantabrians, as once again, Waimate residents have been issued a \u2018do not drink\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n\n
Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe says, \u201cEveryone, no matter where they live, should be able to safely drink the water coming out of their kitchen tap without worrying that they\u2019ll get sick.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut for the people of Waimate, that\u2019s simply not the case – once again, their water is undrinkable due to levels of nitrate thanks to dairy industry pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In 2022, more than 600 residents of the Waimate District had their water shut off after nitrate levels in the Waihao and Waikakahi East rural water scheme exceeded the maximum allowable value. <\/p>\n\n
Appelbe says, \u201cAt levels of nitrate-nitrogen above 11.3mg\/L, there is a high risk of babies developing blue baby syndrome if they are fed formula made with the nitrate-contaminated water, and this can be fatal. That\u2019s why this is New Zealand\u2019s maximum allowable value of nitrate in drinking water – but even at lower levels of nitrate, a growing field of international science indicates that there are significant health risks.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThose include a risk of preterm birth for pregnant people consuming water with more than 5 mg\/L of nitrate-nitrogen, and an increased risk of bowel cancer linked to long-term exposure to nitrate at levels as low as 1 mg\/L.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis is not the first time this has happened in Waimate, and unless those responsible for the pollution are forced to stop polluting, it won\u2019t be the last. Nitrate levels in drinking water will get worse if we don\u2019t address the pollution at the source, and that\u2019s the intensive dairy industry.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis should be of grave concern for Waimate residents, and also shows that Environment Canterbury has failed in its responsibility to limit activities that pollute drinking water.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSimply put, New Zealand has too many dairy cows, especially in Canterbury, and they\u2019re polluting the water we drink. Ultimately, we need far fewer cows on farms, and to see Environment Canterbury enforcing a phase-out of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greenpeace says high nitrate levels a red flag for Cantabrians, as ‘do not drink’ notice issued for Waimate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":49534,"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":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[22,23],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-67538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-freshwater","tag-health","p4-page-type-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\n