More pollution

A “grim” new water report shows Canterbury is New Zealand’s worst nitrogen polluter (Too many cows? Nov 30).

It’s hardly surprising, if current work in the Rakaia riverbed is anything to go by. In the mid-reaches, on the Selwyn District side, decades-old access tracks are being repurposed by big diggers into stopbanks and willow plantations. It looks like flood control for new pasture land expanding out into the riverbed.

Perhaps the new corporate farmers on the block are flexing their muscles. Not so much the councils (ECan included), which seem to have forgotten the river is meant to have statutory protection under its 1988 national water conservation order (like a national park).

The one sure thing is we will now have more cows urinating and defecating in the riverbed. And more nitrogen pollution. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Bill Horsley, Rangiora