A royal commission on nitrates in P.E.I.'s drinking water is unnecessary, NDP Leader Dean Constable said.

Constable said the issue of high nitrate levels in Island water has been addressed in numerous reports over the past few decades.

NDP Leader Dean Constable would like the province to focus on solutions.
(CBC)

"They've had many years and a couple of commissions to identify this," he said. "It would be a diversion and a waste of time to go back through a royal commission. What we need to do is enact reducing the nitrates going into the soil."

A joint federal and provincial study released earlier this month shows that nitrate levels are high in P.E.I.'s drinking water and will get worse if farming practices don't change.

The Liberal Opposition called last week for a royal commission to look into the issue. The province has already announced it will set up a task force to examine the problem. 

Constable said that if the task force works strictly on solutions rather than re-doing existing research, it may be the right process.