Non-compliant consent holders could face tougher action by the Otago Regional Council - similar to that experienced by dairy farmers for effluent discharges.
The suggestion came after a report to the compliance committee noted nearly 60% of consent holders recently audited by the ORC were not compliant.
The council carried out 53 audits from October 24 to December 11, with only 22 (41.4%) fully compliant, environmental services manager Martin King said in a report this week.
The remaining 31 (58.5%) were found to have varying degrees of non-compliance, from information being sent in late, to significant potential environmental effects, he said.
Mr Cairns said the compliance figures showed a "shocking rate" and he did not believe any councillor would be able to stand up and defend the figures.
"That sort of compliance is indefensible."
Chief executive Graeme Martin offered to bring a paper to the committee on the options available to council to deal with non-compliance.
"I think we have tolerated it too long. It's time to act."
Resource management director Selva Selvarajah said he agreed any non-compliance should be looked at seriously whether or not the actions of the consent holder had an environmental impact.
"I agree a large amount of non-compliance exists over all consents."
The council was using a range of measures including warning letters, and judged each incident on a case-by-case basis.
Perhaps the council could look at a similar approach to that taken with dairy farm effluent, where the council moved from education to a three-strikes and then prosecution approach, he said.
The council decided to get tough on dairy farm effluent discharges three seasons ago with legal action recommended for about eight cases this season and taken in 21 the previous season and 26 the year prior.
"It could enforce some conditions through a more regulatory approach."
In some cases, a more regulatory approach could cause problems, because in some circumstances, complying, especially if the standard was unrealistic, could cost consent holders "several million dollars".
