Farm effluent 'catastrophe' foreseen

The lack of a contingency plan on a farm at the centre of dirty dairying allegations had potentially "catastrophic" consequences.

The comments from Marty Forster, an expert in dairy effluent systems, came yesterday at a defended hearing for Hillside Limited.

The company, together with its directors, brothers Frank and Allan Crafar and Allan's wife Elizabeth, face 40 charges alleging the discharge of dairy farm effluent on to land where it may enter the groundwater.

Allan Crafar is a former Fonterra shareholders' council member.

The charges are being heard in the Te Awamutu District Court and relate to discharges on a 366-hectare Collins Rd farm, on the outskirts of Hamilton, in 2007 and 2008.

Mr Forster told the court the effluent system on the Collins Rd farm "would inevitably fail at some stage".

Mr Forster, who has designed and installed 500 effluent systems, said the farm had no contingency plan to deal with issues such as excessive rainfall.

The consequences of such a scenario were "catastrophic", he said, with no option but to irrigate effluent on to saturated land, leading to runoff into waterways and ponding.

Sharemilker Ivan Lammas had complained the farm's effluent system had difficulties managing the herd size of about 1420 cows.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Peter Hardie, Mr Forster said the cowshed effluent could have been removed by the farm's front-end loader, but that was not feasible on a daily basis.

Earlier, Fletcher Pilditch, prosecuting on behalf of Environment Waikato, said the Crafars had the knowledge and power to stop the illegal discharges.

The hearing continues.

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