Effluent hearing: dairy farmers charged

Sixteen South Otago dairy-farm owners will face charges of breaching Otago Regional Council (ORC) effluent rules when they appear before the Environment Court in Balclutha later this month.

The group includes two farm owners prosecuted by the Otago Regional Council last year on the same charge.

The regional council, keen to take a hard line against the most serious breaches of its effluent standards, said recently it was disappointed some farmers continued to ignore rules that were well publicised and enforced.

Council resource management director Dr Selva Selvarajah said the number of prosecutions was disappointing, especially considering the regional council had made a major effort to educate dairy farmers about their environmental responsibilities.

Where necessary, the regional council has issued infringement notices or warnings but felt it had little choice but to take court action against offending properties "at the higher end of the [offence] scale."

The matters are expected to be heard by a sitting Environment Court judge in the Balclutha District Court with July 27 and July 29 pencilled in.

Last year, 18 farm owners were convicted and fined more than $115,000 collectively when their cases were heard by an Environment Court judge in the Balclutha District Court.

The regional council's report on dairy inspections for the 2008-09 year reveals 75.5% of the 379 Otago dairy farms were complying with their resource consents issued to store and discharge effluent.

However, 75 properties, making up 19.5% of the region's dairy farms, were found to have one or more breaches. The most common problem was minor effluent ponding, overflowing sumps, over-full storage ponds or a lack of storage ponds.

It issued 23 warning letters reminding farmers of their obligations and four fines of $750 each were issued for minor non-compliance.