Some discharges of animal effluent remain prohibited by the Otago Regional Council. Generally, all discharge requires a resource consent.
However, the date for applying for consent depends on the number of days of storage you have, or if you are putting in new storage now. Until these dates are reached, your discharge is temporarily permitted.
While your discharge is temporarily permitted, the discharge of animal effluent needs to be managed to ensure there is no discharge within 50m of surface waterways and their beds, including lakes, rivers, regionally significant wetlands, drains or water races that discharge to a lake, river, regionally significant wetland or the coastal marine area, and no discharge that results in ponding or overland flow to waterways.
In addition, no discharge that results in any of the following in a waterway, after reasonable mixing conspicuous oil or grease film, scum or foam; floating or suspended material; change in water colour or clarity; emission of an objectionable odour; water being unsuitable for drinking by farm animals; or significant negative effects on aquatic life.
Do you need resource consent?
All discharges will eventually need a resource consent (except for some smaller discharges — see below).
The requirement to apply for a consent is staged over several years depending on the capacity of your storage — i.e. those with fewer days’ storage need to apply sooner than others.
Discharges are temporarily permitted until the dates are reached, or for the first six months from when the rules are made operative.
Unless the use of land for your animal effluent storage facility is temporarily permitted under Rule 14.7.1.2 in the Water Plan, you need to apply for a resource consent to discharge effluent to land at the same time as you apply for consent to build a new animal effluent storage facility to ensure that you have consent within six months of the rules becoming operative.
Some smaller-scale discharges can happen without consent.
You will not need a discharge consent if the volume is not more than 25m3 per landholding in a consecutive 12-month period; you don’t discharge it within 20m of the boundary of the landholding where the effluent is being discharged; and you don’t apply effluent when soil moisture is exceeding field capacity.
It is not prohibited under Rule 12.C.0.4, which talks about separation distances or discharges to water.
Generally, if you are discharging solid animal effluent to land or vegetative material containing solid or liquid effluent, you will not need consent.
This is as long as it is not a hazardous substance; it does not contain human waste; you do not discharge it on to the same area more frequently than every two months; there is no solid effluent visible from the last time; soil moisture is in deficit; and you keep 20m away from things like bores, water supplies, rivers and regionally significant wetlands.
