File photoOtago and Southland water supplies could contain levels of nitrates that international research has linked to a risk of bowel cancer. The study he co-authored, overseen by Victoria and Otago Universities, uses overseas research including a Danish study that found a link with bowel cancer when nitrate levels were as low as 0.87mg per litre of water. In the Southern DHB area, on an age-adjusted per capita basis, bowel cancer rates were the highest in the country. But there were no higher rates of obesity than average, no higher rates of smoking, or alcohol consumption, either. New Zealand’s new water regulator Taumata Arowai could require nitrate testing and compile nitrate levels in a national database that would enable researchers to look at the issue long-term.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 03, 2021 15:34 UTC