Southland residents have gained better access to nitrate level data following claims of a public health crisis from an environmental organisation.
In May, Greenpeace raised concerns after undertaking testing in Lumsden, and asked all district councils to make their results public - a call which has been answered by Southland District Council.
But the council has credited interest in Gore and a bid to reassure people as the reasons it began proactively releasing data.
The change follows comments from council manager Kevin Johnson last month that routine test figures were "often open to misinterpretation and unqualified comment", although the manager did not believe they had made a U-turn.
"There has been no change in approach. We simply don’t post exhaustive test results because there are pages of data that are highly technical," Johnson said this week.
"We provide easier-to-interpret graphs and MAV [maximum acceptable value] numbers precisely, unprompted, because they are simpler to read and see."
Greenpeace's May testing logged a 6.14mg/L result in Lumsden which was below the country's 11.3mg/L limit but above the half-MAV threshold which requires councils to increase testing at small and medium supplies.
Councillor Matt Wilson raised a notice of motion about the nitrate issue at Wednesday’s meeting and told Local Democracy Reporting a decision to release the data had been informally agreed to before Greenpeace raised concerns.
Wilson had written the notice following Greenpeace's visit, but amended it after attending a council workshop where he was informed the info would soon go live.
His final notice highlighted “widespread and deteriorating nitrate levels” in the region, called for increased monitoring, and noted the information should be available because of potential health risks.
Johnson said the council had no knowledge of any official or unofficial agreements about releasing the data online. Last month, Johnson said the council was considering how it could best make the information publicly available.
A February report on nitrates from Environment Southland collated decades of research and highlighted a range of issues in the region, including long-term deterioration trends and elevated concentrations.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
