The water that flows down from Mount Taranaki and through the pristine dairy country that surrounds the tiny settlement of Kapuni is not fit for human consumption. But it’s nothing to do with what’s on the land. It’s what’s happening below it, and it has locals afraid for their health.
Locals say the Kapuni Stream is contaminated and they are blaming the toxic poisons being used by oil companies in an extraction method that has drawn criticism around the world – hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process in which liquids laced with chemicals are pumped into the ground at high pressure to force oil to the surface
They talk about the polluted stream and contaminated ground water and point to a curious cluster of cancer cases. Even the Taranaki District Health Board admits that the death rate from cancer in the province is significantly higher than in the rest of New Zealand.
Massive Magazine NZ
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