Nitrate Contamination in Canterbury w/ Greenpeace Aotearoa’s Will Applebe: 16 April, 2025

Greenpeace Aotearoa recently conducted a round of water testing at a series of bore wells in the Ashburton district. 

The tests found that close to one in five private bores they tested were above the Government’s maximum allowable value of nitrate in drinking water, which is 11.3mg per litre, and that nitrate contamination had been linked to a number of preterm birth complications.

Greenpeace have also linked the nitrate contamination to the dairy industry and the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser which leaches into groundwater.

Oto spoke to Will Applebe, Greenpeace Aotearoa’s Freshwater campaigner, about nitrate contamination in the Ashburton district’s water and their calls to the ministry of health to address it.