'Clean up or be shut down'

Judge gets tough with farmers over effluent

An Invercargill judge has warned southern farmers whose dairy shed effluent spilled into natural waterways to clean up their act or face having their farm operations shut down.

Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith said in the Invercargill District Court yesterday if prosecutions for discharging effluent into waterways continued it was likely the court would increase fines above the $15,000 starting point.

He also warned if compliance did not improve significantly the court may enforce orders preventing farm operations from continuing.

Judge Smith's comments came during the sentencing of Mokotua sharemilker Brent John Hayston who admitted discharging dairy shed effluent on to land in circumstances where it entered the Waituna Stream.

The case was "depressingly similar" to other court cases, the judge said.

Hayston was fined $8000 and ordered to pay the Southland Regional Council $1703 for its investigation costs.

The regional council summary of facts says the Waituna Stream into which the effluent spilled was a significant waterway because it flowed through low-lying land, some of which was internationally recognised wetlands. The stream discharges into the Waituna Lagoon on the south coast, which is part of the Waituna Wetlands Scientific Reserve.

The system also has considerable value as a brown trout spawning area, the summary says.

An Environment Southland officer undertaking a routine dairy inspection of the 600 cow property, which is owned by a partnership, found a discharge entering the Waituna Stream last December.

The travelling effluent irrigator was found in a paddock and had stalled, the summary says.

The effluent had ponded over a tile drain and had discharged into the Waituna Stream.

Haystock admitted he had noticed the irrigator had stalled and had switched off the pump, but had not checked if it had caused problems, the summary said.

The judge said that was a serious failure. "This demonstrates your attitude of carelessness." The farm had been subject to interest from the regional council in the past and may be a significant contributor to problems in the lagoon, the judge said.

"You will need to consider carefully the application methods on this farm given its proximity to valuable waterways and the lagoon," he told Hayston.

Judge Smith said during the sentencing of another farmer for a similar offence that farmers should constantly monitor their travelling effluent irrigation systems.

"They require constant vigilance and they break down all the time." Without adequate controls there would almost inevitably be breaches and the court would prosecute, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News