Farmer fined for stream diversion

A Hawera dairy farmer who diverted a stream without resource consent has been fined $12,000.

It is thought to be the first time the Taranaki Regional Council has brought a prosecution against someone for failing to get a consent.

Eddie Bourke was sentenced by Judge Brian Dwyer in the Environment Court at New Plymouth yesterday after pleading guilty to four separate charges of offending earlier in the year.

The court heard how Bourke carried out illegal earthworks at his Hawera property in September 2008 after talking to a regional council officer about a consent but never applying.

Upon inspection it was found contractors had arrived early at the property and with Bourke's permission placed a 45m-long culvert in an un-named stream and diverted the water through it. Extremely high levels of turbidity and suspended solids were found in the water.

The cumulative effect of such works was of serious concern to the court, because suspended solids could clog the gills of fish and smother plants and animals.

Judge Dwyer said Bourke's offending was serious and deliberate. "You did it because you thought you would get away with it. You decided to run the risk when the contractors arrived," the judge said. "The shame of the matter is that you were given a resource consent retrospectively."

Bourke admitted he had done wrong and was remorseful, defence lawyer Susan Hughes QC said.

He was fined $3000 on each of the four charges, which included placing a culvert in a river bed, reclaiming the bed of a river, diverting water and discharging contaminants to land which could have entered the water.

- © Fairfax NZ News