Greenpeace concerned about high levels of nitrate in Canterbury's drinking water
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Greenpeace has written to Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand over its concerns about nitrate in Canterbury's drinking water.
The organisation said it tested 445 water samples in North Canterbury this past weekend and the results indicated town supplies in Darfield, Kirwee and Oxford had nitrate levels above the 5mg/L threshold.
Spokesperson Amanda Larsson said that was the level which could increase the risk of pre-term birth.
"The highest readings we see are often from private bores in rural areas. It's less common to see such high readings in the public town supply. For comparison, about 80 percent of New Zealand's drinking water is below 1mg/L so 5 mg/L in the town supply is high," she said.