At least three Clutha dairy farmers have been caught breaching water quality rules, only a fortnight into the Otago Regional Council's annual farm inspection season.
Federated Farmers and the council said they were ''very disappointed'' at the level of dairy effluent ponding and runoff into waterways they have found this spring.
Council chief executive Peter Bodeker said it was concerning given the amount of time the council had spent talking to farmers about the water quality rules that took effect in May.
''You would've been on Mars if you hadn't realised that this was an important thing,'' Mr Bodeker said.
''We are into the third week of this season's dairy inspections, I was notified of these three breaches at the end of the second week of inspection and there are others''.
The annual inspections at the start of the dairy season were no longer random, he said.
Some farmers who were consistently compliant and with whom the council had had no problems might not
be inspected every year, he said.
''Those farmers that have got poor infrastructure, we are going to visit them more often because they're more likely to fail. People say `Is that fair?' - I think it is.''
He likened the new ''risk-based'' inspections to a warrant of fitness on cars.
''The older vehicles are going to be inspected more often because they're the ones that are likely to need remedial work,'' he said.
''Farmers that have got good structure, good systems, good management practices, they're not going to see us as much as those who haven't.''
Federated Farmers Otago president Stephen Korteweg said he was ''naturally, very disappointed''.
While spring had been wet, and some new farmers might have bought into a farm that needed a significant upgrade to equipment to be compliant, the rules were clear, he said.
''As farmers, we're very disappointed that some of our colleagues have let the team down. We have to do better as farmers.''
Mr Korteweg said there was help out there for farmers who needed it.
But he questioned whether the council could have dealt with farmers with ''a little bit more even-handedness''.
A media statement by the council said offending farmers could expect ''stringent enforcement action ... including prosecution'' and spokesman Peter Taylor said between one and a dozen farmers were prosecuted each year.
Mr Korteweg said recent urban breaches resulted in pollution seeping into Lake Wakatipu, in Queenstown.
''I don't want to make it sound like we're making excuses, because no good is no good, but if it's no good for one lot, it's no good for the other lot either. If it's no good for rural, it's no good for urban either.
''I've never seen the regional council take anybody urban to court for a non-compliance. That doesn't make it right, but get it into perspective.''
