Water test results

Monitoring shows the majority of monitored groundwater sites have nitrate concentrations below drinking water standards. The latest monitoring of 962 sites by Land, Air, Water Aotearoa shows nitrate concentrations have been fairly steady over the past 10 years — while there’s been a slight increasing trend in E coli detections. LAWA groundwater science lead and Environment Canterbury science manager Carl Hanson said E Coli in itself may or may not be harmful — but it shows there’s faecal contamination in the groundwater. He said if there was faecal contamination, there could be other germs and pathogens that could make people sick.