Abstract
The government inquiry into Havelock North’s campylobacteriosis outbreak warned that nearly 800,000 New Zealanders are drinking water that is “not demonstrably safe”. This included risk from water-borne infections and hazardous contaminants in the water. Furthermore, more than 80% of New Zealanders consider the state of our water to be their main environmental concern. With climate change, existing impacts will be amplified. So how proactive will the next Government be at protecting water sources? All parties responded to our survey question on water source protection with varying amounts of commitment to the specific question around nitrogen contamination. The disparate nature of the parties’ responses suggests very different understandings of what is driving the country’s drinking water and wider water quality problems.