‘Will they or won't they commit to freshwater protections?’ That's the question Greenpeace has asked of candidates standing for Environment Canterbury (ECan) regional council.

This is all laid out in Greenpeace’s freshwater scorecard released today, revealing which candidates standing in the ECan elections understand the seriousness of freshwater pollution, and are committed to taking action.

Canterbury-based Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe says "Over the next few days, Cantabrians will be receiving their voting papers in the mail. We’ve asked candidates if they will stand up to protect freshwater, and we want to empower voters with this knowledge.

Greenpeace’s scorecard categorises each candidate as green, orange, or red, based on their answers to a questionnaire on freshwater policies. It also considers candidates’ previous voting history as ECan councilors, where applicable. The questionnaire focused on preventing drinking water contamination, implementing a sinking cap on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use, and limiting dairy expansion in the region.

"Freshwater is at breaking point, and nowhere is that more obvious than in Canterbury," says Appelbe.

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"While Environment Canterbury allows the intensive dairy industry to expand unchecked, rivers are becoming too polluted to swim in and many families can’t even drink the water coming out of their kitchen tap without fear of getting sick.

"This pollution will get worse unless it’s stopped at the source - the intensive dairy industry."

In August, it was revealed that Environment Canterbury had green-lit the addition of more than 16,000 new dairy cattle on the Canterbury plains - something Appelbe says is simply not acceptable.

Runoff from dairy cattle urine and synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is one of the key sources of freshwater pollution in New Zealand, with dairy-intensive regions such as Canterbury and Southland having comparatively high levels of nitrate contamination in drinking water.

"New Zealand is at the knife-edge of corporate greed," says Appelbe. "The intensive dairy industry is destroying lakes, rivers, and drinking water to make as much money as they can, and everyone else bears the cost with polluted drinking water and inflated dairy prices."

"That’s why we’re calling on all Environment Canterbury candidates to commit to ending dairy expansion in the region and phasing out the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser - because everybody, no matter where they live, has the right to clean safe drinking water."

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