Environmental activist group Greenpeace will this month hold free water tests for nitrate-affected residents of Glenavy, near Waimate, and will also host a public meeting with a university health expert.
Otago University public health researcher Dr. Tim Chambers is a co-author of published research on the health effects of nitrate, including a paper estimating that 100 cases of colorectal cancer and 40 deaths per year were attributable to the contamination.
He will speak at Glenavy Hall on Nov. 15, as residents of the Lower Waihao and Waikakahi East nationwide water program continue to drink bottled water after unsafe nitrate levels were discovered in the nationwide Waimate program in August.
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Chambers said there is mounting evidence linking exposure to nitrate in drinking water to multiple negative health outcomes, including colorectal cancer, preterm births and neural tube defects.
AIMAN AMERUL MUNER/Stuff
Residents will attend a community meeting in Glenavy Hall in September about high nitrate levels in the Lower Waihao and Waikakahi East Rural Water Plan.
“Many studies have shown the risk of adverse health effects to arise at drinking water nitrate levels significantly below the New Zealand drinking water standard of 11.3 mg/L,” he said.
Greenpeace has been hosting free water testing events at City Hall since the winter of 2021 and has also run a free nitrate testing service that has now tested more than 1,500 household boron water samples.
“Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right,” said Steve Abel, senior Greenpeace campaigner.
“It is unacceptable that the people of the Waimate region have lost their water supply due to nitrate pollution, and local residents deserve information and answers.”
AIMAN AMERUL MUNER/Stuff
A water tank in Glenavy Hall in September.
In the past, the organization has offered free water tests in Temuka.
The public meeting, on November 15, will begin at 7 p.m., while the free water test will take place the same day at Glenavy Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the following day, at the Waimate Highland Pipe Band Hall, from 9 a.m. to noon.