when it rains don't go swiming

I am very concerned about our rivers and I know I'm not the only one. When I say rivers I really mean water - that essential component of life that should be available to all. Part of my concern is due to the dairy farming and the excessive cowshit flushed into the water systems. When it rains don't go swimming because many stormwater systems just cannot cope - and that is with human and animal waste.

The story below illustrates the animal waste situation well. (pun intended)

Stuff

At least 138 Darfield residents had serious stomach upsets after drinking water contaminated with animal waste.

The Canterbury District Health Board's Community and Public Health division has released its report on last year's outbreak of waterborne gastroenteritis in Darfield.

Twenty-nine people tested positive for campylobacter in the July and August outbreak. Another 109 people were defined as having probable campylobacteriosis.

Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Ramon Pink said the outbreak happened after heavy rain caused animal effluent to enter an untreated well.

That is a lot of sick people and I fear this type of event will increase as we continue to bend over backwards to supply dairy farmers with water, so they can make money, and as a consequence we have spoiled water or depleted rivers. It is common I believe and I know of more than a few instances where farmers have diddled the system to get more water than the rivers can allow - leading to dried up streams and fish gasping for breath in fetid ponds. Too often I also see the farmer near us let his cows wander down to the river to drink and shit with impunity - what has happened to the clean streams accord? Well it was voluntary - nuff said.

This despoilment of the commons was touched on by JMG and I recommend reading this post from him. We have to take back our commons and restore equality for people and communities and we have to start now while the rivers have some chance of recovery.

As for dairy farmers - first I would make their personal water supply be sourced downstream from their farms - that would sort 90% of it out quite quickly imo.

whose side are you on ministry for the environment?

This is hard to believe.

"Groundwater quality has "no significant relationship" with land use, a Ministry for the Environment report says"

That's right - the Ministry for the Environment are saying that land use has no 'significant' relationship to water quality.
This is the ministry for the environment here - this is not only nonsense but it plays right into the hands of those that would do anything they want on the land and not have to worry about the water they pollute.
Too true russ - you are on to it and thank goodness for that, because if you weren't we probably wouldn't even have heard of this. Why aren't other political parties interested in these issues - they affect us all.

minister smith said;

"The report said nitrate and E. coli levels breached health standards at 5 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, of 973 monitoring sites, including 279 in Canterbury.

Quality was rapidly changing at a third of the sites, with "patterns that suggest human influence". But the report said there was "no systematic or significant relationships" between groundwater quality and land use or land cover."

"Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the claim was absurd and "propaganda".

He said the uncertainty in the report suited the Government's political agenda "to downplay the environmental impacts of agricultural intensification"."

"he was "a little surprised" at the conclusion because the popular notion was that land-use intensification led to water-quality problems.

Smith said he would defer to the specialists who prepared the report rather than favour popular opinion."

It does seem to be quite a contrarian position - i wonder why the ministry have taken it.