A message from the Happy Cow People
Updated: Sep 23, 2019
Hi Gary,
You can check the nitrate levels of your local river by visiting this interactive map from Statistics NZ https://statisticsnz.shinyapps.io/river_water_quality_nitrogen_apr17/
You’ll notice that the Forks Stream near Tekapo has a nitrate concentration of 3mg/L.
If you drive approximately 120 km west you’ll get to Hinds, where the Rhodes Stream has a nitrate concentration of 10.9mg/L. A little further north, the Boundary Drain reading is 10.3mg/L.
To put this into perspective the highest nitrate reading in NZ is 13.5mg/L in the market gardening capital of NZ, Pukekohe.
I often think of that when someone tells me plant-based agriculture will save the planet, but I digress.
One of the differences between the Forks Stream in Tekapo & the waterways near Hinds, is there are 250,000 dairy cows on the flats of South Canterbury compared with 0 dairy cows in Tekapo.
However, that is about to change. Despite many objections, Environment Canterbury has granted consent for a 15,000 cow dairy farm just outside of Tekapo.
Continue reading here:
https://mailchi.mp/2b87a27faf90/newsletter-20-the-governments-new-freshwater-standards?e=1f1b83cd3d
And here is his followup article which poses some really interesting solutions: