H & S Chisholm Farms Limited has been convicted and fined $57,375 for two discharges of dairy effluent from its South Waikato farm in mid-2017.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Melanie Harland in the Hamilton District Court last week.
The prosecution was taken by Waikato Regional Council, under the Resource Management Act, following a complaint by a member of public that a tributary of the Waipā Stream looked «contaminated».
The council’s farming services team located an effluent holding pond overflowing in large volumes to the tributary.
Immediate steps were taken to stop the overflow and the council issued an abatement notice, returning to the farm two weeks later for a follow-up inspection.
On that visit they found the pond was no longer overflowing, however, effluent was still entering the stream from an irrigator in use on the farm.
Judge Harland noted that the company’s response to the incidents was «exemplary», with significant investment in effluent infrastructure on the farm following the pollution events.
However, she also noted that «dairy farmers in the Waikato region have had ample time to understand what is required to lawfully manage dairy effluent and to become educated about best practice, both in terms of the design, operation and management of effluent systems».
The fine is among the highest for effluent offences in recent years, with two other fines of more than $50,000 and a further six of more than $35,000 in 2017/18. However, the 21 convictions in the past two years involve a tiny fraction of the country’s 8000 farm owners and 4000 sharemilkers
Earlier this year, Forest and Bird released a report rating local authorities for their performance on effluent compliance monitoring and gave the Waikato Regional Council an «F», the worst rating in the country.
The report called for every dairy farm in the country to be identified and inspected annually but Waikato Regional Council farming services manager Nicole Botherway said this was not practical.
«It would be great to visit all 4200 dairy farms in the Waikato every year. But it’s unrealistic to burden our ratepayers with the massive four-fold expense of extra staff and resources just because they live in a region with the most dairy farms in the country.»
In June, the council announced it had adopted a more risk-based monitoring programme, combining one-on-one site visits of high-risk farms with aerial inspections which could include using satellite imagery, drones, fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters.
