{"id":70017,"date":"2025-05-08T16:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T04:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=70017"},"modified":"2025-06-05T07:34:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:34:41","slug":"how-new-zealand-dairy-industry-pollution-threatens-rivers-climate-and-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/how-new-zealand-dairy-industry-pollution-threatens-rivers-climate-and-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s dirty secret: How dairy industry pollution is threatening rivers, the climate, and democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aotearoa is famous for turquoise waters and beautiful landscapes. Our \u2018clean and green\u2019 image is a unique selling point to tourists from around the world who come here to escape into the beautiful natural landscapes of their favourite fantasy movies – Lord of the Rings, anyone?<\/p>\n\n

\"A
A swimmer jumps into a river in New Zealand, without concern for potential dairy industry pollution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

But the reality is that under the surface, New Zealand\u2019s natural environment is far from pristine. That’s because the intensive dairy industry is polluting lakes and rivers, destroying precious ecosystems, and damaging the climate with superheating methane gas.<\/p>\n\n

Since the 2023 elections, the intensive dairy industry has been silently taking control of environmental policy, rewriting the rules to avoid accountability for their pollution. But how bad is it, really?<\/p>\n\n

A crisis for rivers and drinking water<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Half of all of New Zealand\u2019s lakes are polluted. Ninety percent of the country\u2019s wetlands are destroyed. According to the Ministry for the Environment\u2019s Our Environment 2025<\/em> report, most native freshwater fish and bird species are threatened with extinction.<\/p>\n\n

Fresh water is at breaking point. Two thirds of NZ\u2019s rivers are too polluted to swim in. At the same time, once-safe drinking water is becoming increasingly contaminated with harmful nitrate. And that pollution will get worse unless it\u2019s stopped at the source – the intensive dairy industry.<\/p>\n\n

The dirty dairy industry is polluting rivers and contaminating drinking water across the country. There are too many cows on farms, and the dairy industry is dumping too much synthetic nitrogen fertiliser onto pasture. As a result, the dairy industry has contaminated rivers and groundwater across the country with nitrate pollution. In particular, regions like Canterbury, Southland, and Waikato are most at risk of this pollution.<\/p>\n\n

\"Nitrate
People queue to get their drinking water tested for nitrate contamination from the dairy industry in Darfield, Canterbury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

How bad is the dairy industry’s pollution?<\/h2>\n\n

By 2023, Land and Water Aotearoa<\/a> (LAWA) found that not a single<\/em> monitored shallow lake in New Zealand was in very good condition. LAWA backed this up with additional research in 2024, which confirmed that two-thirds of monitored rivers and streams suffer from impaired ecological health. In some areas, sensitive species like mayflies are disappearing entirely. Not only this, but most monitored shallow lowland lakes \u2013 those surrounded by agriculture or urban sprawl \u2013 are in poor or very poor health.<\/p>\n\n

Nitrate levels in groundwater wells are rising steadily in rural areas around Aotearoa. Hundreds of thousands of rural people rely on private bores for drinking water, and many of these are now contaminated. One hundred rural schools h<\/a>ave nitrate-contaminated drinking water<\/a> at levels which have been linked to increased risks of bowel cancer. The cause of this? Dairy industry pollution.<\/p>\n\n

The situation for New Zealand\u2019s lakes, rivers, and drinking water seems dire – and it is. But how has this happened?<\/p>\n\n

Agribusiness wields the pen<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

In response to public pressure, the previous government introduced national freshwater regulations. But since the 2023 elections, the tide has turned. Luxon\u2019s government \u2013 with former Federated Farmers lobbyist Andrew Hoggard now Associate Environment Minister \u2013 has launched a \u201cwar on nature<\/a>\u201d – and freshwater protections are in the firing line.<\/p>\n\n

Since taking office, the government has begun a systemic and severe roll-back of the few protections in place for fresh water by:<\/p>\n\n