Selwyn_Times: November 29, 2023

Wednesday November 29 2023 Selwyn Times
MUCH OF THE district has
significantly elevated nitrate
levels.
An interactive map that enables
people to monitor nitrate
levels in their drinking water was
launched on Monday.
Greenpeace Aotearoa’s Know
Your Nitrate map allows users to
search for information on local
levels.
Greenpeace has been undertaking
free nitrate testing for two
years, which has allowed the organisation
to create a dataset that
shows nitrate levels in household
bore water supplies.
According to Otago University
scientists, 800,000 New Zealanders
are at risk of drinking
hazardous levels of nitrates.
In Selwyn, two areas have high
enough nitrate levels to make
drinking groundwater unsafe.
The banks of the Rakaia River
near Southbridge have a nitrate
level of 13.82mg/l, while part of
Saunders Rd near Hororata has a
level of 12.6mg/l.
The data underlying the
Greenpeace map is mostly selfsupply
bore users in rural areas
at risk of high nitrate exposure,
but it also shows a number of
substantial public water supplies
exceeding health risk limits.
Rolleston’s main water supply
has a nitrate level of 3.15mg/l,
higher than the mean of public
supplies of 2.52 mg/l.
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive
director Russel Norman said the
map was designed to inform and
warn the public of the potential
health risks of nitrate in drinking
water.
“Nitrate has no odour, taste or
colour and is the most pervasive
water contaminant in New Zealand,”
he said in a statement.
People living in rural areas
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Nitrate contamination
map shows district’s levels
RISK: Greenpeace has launched an interactive map that
enables people to monitor nitrate levels in drinking water.
PHOTO: RNZ
were the most likely to be unaware
of their exposure to hazardous
levels of nitrate, he said.
“Many rural New Zealand
families in high-risk areas are
drinking water from their kitchen
taps without knowing whether it
is contaminated with nitrates or
how high those contamination
levels are. Unless they pay to get
it tested themselves, they have no
way to know.”
People using bore water should
get it tested because a direct test
of tap water was the only way
of truly find out your potential
nitrate exposure, Norman said.
In addition to data already
available, Greenpeace had done
testing itself, Norman told Morning
Report.
“So there’s over 1200 tests that
we’ve added . . . to the existing
data and brought it all together
in one place.”
He said the public health risk
of nitrates was an “emerging area
of science”.
“There are some very large
studies which show that you can
get colorectal cancer, there can
be impacts if you are pregnant in
terms of pre-term and low birth
weight at much lower than the
. . . World Health Organisationset
standards we have.”
Norman said the largest
sources of nitrate contamination
in New Zealand were cow urine
and synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
Greenpeace was calling on all
political parties to cut the use of
synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and
lower dairy cow stocking rates in
order to protect drinking water
from nitrate contamination, he
said.
• To see the map, go to
https://maps.greenpeace.
org/maps/aotearoa/knowyour-nitrate/
NEWS 3
In Brief
VOTING PAPERS MAILED
Voting papers for the Malvern
Community Board by-election
have been sent, with 6800 voter
packs mailed to electors enrolled
in the Hawkins and Tawera
subdivisions. Voting is open until
noon December 15. If you have
not received a voter pack contact
the council 0800 SELWYN (735
996).
TWO MINISTERIAL
PORTFOLIOS FOR GRIGG
Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg has
picked two ministerial portfolios
as part of the new Government,
which was sworn in on Monday.
Grigg is the Minister of State
for Trade and the Minister for
Women, as well as Associate
Minister of Agriculture
(Horticulture).
LANSDOWNE PASSED IN
Lansdowne has failed to sell after
it was passed in at auction on
Thursday for $2.2 million. The
Old Tai Tapu Rd house on 1.2ha
of land has a rating valuation of
$2.25 million.
CRICKET CLUB DAY GOES
AHEAD ON DOMAIN
Lincoln Cricket successfully held
its annual Club Day on Saturday
after concerns over the field’s
condition. As promised, the
council had the ground open for
the day. All 21 junior and senior
teams played in and around the
Lincoln Domain, with one game
at Lincoln High School.
Over 10 Years in Selwyn
Belinda Ferguson
Anita Molloy-Roberts
Olivia Johnston
Maddy France
Kieran Heenan
Ruby Jones
W: www.meareswilliams.co.nz
T: (03) 374 2547
E: rec@meareswilliams.co.nz
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