Greenpeace are calling for a nitrate emergency to be declared in Southland.
It comes after a report into the state of the region’s water was revealed last week that detailed widespread degradation and "elevated nitrate concentrations" particularly from "pastoral agriculture and related land-use intensification".
Greenpeace spokesman Will Applebe said the "Nitrogen Contamination in Southland Groundwater" report, released by Environment Southland, was further vindication for their concerns.
"It confirms what we’ve been saying all along, that intensive agriculture and especially intensive dairying is the main source of nitrate contamination in Southland, as well as winter forage crop raising as well.
"It’s putting people’s health at risk, and we are now calling for Environment Southland to declare a nitrate emergency because it is clear there is a drinking water crisis in Southland," he said.
In response, Southland Federated Farmers President Jason Herrick said the report was an "old report, dating back to 2018" which "environmental activists" were now parroting.
"In my opinion this is environmental activist groups politicising this old report and trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
"It’s unfortunate we’ve got activist groups like Greenpeace portraying this as a public health issue, but it’s just to scare the public and it helps to push their anti-farming agenda," he said.
Mr Herrick said the levels of nitrates in the water in Southland were not above the threshold for consumption and "New Zealanders should take their health advice from medical professionals, not environmental activists".
Mr Herrick said farmers had been doing a lot of work to help reduce their environmental impacts.
"We know know, as farmers, there is a nitrate issue. This has been ongoing for quite some time, but it’s not just farmers, this is a whole wide social issue.
"We all have to work together as a community, as a country, to solve this, and it’s not going to be an easy fix. We are working fairly hard, farmers are doing some real positive work, and there’s new science coming out all the time, " he said.
Mr Herrick was also unimpressed by the call for a nitrate emergency declaration.
"If a nitrate emergency is declared, we have to start looking hard at the people who are making these decisions at the end of the day. All it is doing is instilling fear in the public and that is what we do not want."
Mr Applebe said a nitrate emergency would recognise the scale of the issue and meet the need for regional councils to "take leadership" on the issue.
"Regional councils are responsible for protecting the sources of drinking water that are increasingly put at risk because of the intensive dairy industry. What they put in place themselves is up to the regional councils.
"Ultimately, there are simply too many cows. We need to reduce the size of dairy herds across the country but particularly in places like Canterbury and Southland," he said.
He believed it was time to "be led by the science" and called for all interested groups to come together for a "grown-up conversation" about the issue.
He said it was not about the individual farmers but rather helping set systems to reduce harm.
"It’s going to take everyone to respond to the crisis with the agency it requires. That does mean we’re going to need to have some tough conversations about the fact that everyone should be able to drink water from their kitchen tap without worry, without getting sick.
"We need to address the types of land use which is putting that at risk. In places like Southland that is quite clearly intensive dairying," he said.
Gore Mayor Ben Bell said his personal opinion was declaring a nitrate emergency was "more of a spectacle than a solution" and was a decision for a regional council.
"This is the exact reason we have a regional council, to enforce regulation to protect our waterways that are the lifeblood of our communities.
"The district has taken pragmatic steps to protect our water users. However, we need everyone to play their part in not making this situation worse," he said.
