Testing of a bore at Oxford Rd has found levels of the fungicide difenoconazole at 50 times that permitted in the European Union. But rural Taranaki town Ōkato - the part of the district that normally goes dry first - is conspicuously missing from that list. Documents seen by RNZ show the aquifer, accessed via a 50-metre deep bore at Oxford Road, contained difenoconazole at 51 parts per billion. The Taranaki Regional Council and health authorities were notified and ESR groundwater expert Murray Close was called in to investigate. The district council gave up on the aquifer in 2016.

Source: Stuff April 23, 2021 03:33 UTC