But Greenpeace said Federated Farmers was in the wrong, and owed New Zealand an apology.
After a weekend without drinking water in Gore (July 18-20) due to elevated nitrate levels, the environmental organisation stepped up its efforts against the dairy industry.
Greenpeace defaced two Gore landmarks last Tuesday night, July 22, with a message calling out dairy farmers below the welcome sign.
The famous brown trout statue was also made to look as though it had died, in a move Southland Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick stated was low and called for action.
"Last night’s [Tuesday’s] vandalism of the world-famous trout statue in Gore reinforces why these activists need to lose their status as a charity," Mr Herrick said last Wednesday.
"I think it’s a total abuse of charitable status."
Federated Farmers called for the revoking of Greenpeace’s charitable status in April, following the group’s occupation at the Taranaki Port.
"How can they be recognised as a charity when they’re breaking all kinds of laws trespassing on private property, vandalising public property and intimidating the community?"
Greenpeace spokesman Russel Norman said Federated Farmers needed to take a step back and examine their standards.
"What is more vandalism? Is it destroying pretty much all of the lowland rivers across Southland and Canterbury, poisoning the water for hundreds of thousands of people?
"[Or is it] sticking a couple eyes on a plastic trout in order to draw attention to the fact that Federated Farmers and Dairy NZ are poisoning drinking water and rivers across the country," he said.
Mr Norman said his group stood by the stunt and thought it was the agricultural group which needed to front up.
"I reckon it’s time for Federated Farmers to issue a public apology to the people of New Zealand."
Stats NZ data shows a 1500% rise of dairy cattle numbers between 1990-2019 in Southland, from 38,000 to 636,000 over the same period.
Mr Norman said the evidence linking dairy to nitrate pollution was there.
"That’s why we go out and offer free nitrate testing, because rural and provincial New Zealand are being exposed to high levels in their drinking water, as a result of dairy intensification," he said.
Greenpeace said Gore was not out of the woods yet in regards to nitrate in the water, but the council said levels were going down all the time and were of acceptable standard.
Greenpeace said in a statement it had tested a sample collected from the Gore town supply, which returned a result above 5mg/L nitrate (NO3-N), a level associated with an increased risk of preterm birth.
Above this level of nitrate, the New Zealand College of Midwives recommends pregnant women consider finding another source of water because of the increased risk of preterm birth.
The sample was collected on Wednesday, July 23, tested with an optical spectrometer and followed testing procedures which have been externally reviewed by GNS science.
While the township’s do-not-drink notice has been lifted, Greenpeace freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe said there was a risk to public health.
Gore issued a do-not-drink notice on Friday, July 18, after the town supply exceeded the maximum allowable value (MAV) of 11.3mg/l for nitrate. It recorded 11.4mg/l.
Gore District Council critical services general manager Jason Domigan said the Water Services Act required all councils to provide water that was safe by meeting current drinking water standards.
He said since the sample on Friday, July 18 of 11.4mg/l, the council had seen a continuous decline in the nitrate concentrations at the East Gore Water Treatment Plant.
Accredited laboratory results showed these were at 5.88mg/l at noon Thursday last week.
"The council will continue to monitor through additional sampling over the coming weeks as we calibrate new nitrate probes installed at Coopers Well and the East Gore Water Treatment Plant." — Allied Media
