Record Fine for Waikato Dairy Farmer for Effluent Discharges
NEW ZEALAND - On-going environmental breaches on a Waikato farm have seen a fine of over $130,000 handed down in the Hamilton District Court.
5 March 2019
1 minute read
A Cambridge farming company and one of its directors have each been convicted of eight charges under the Resource Management Act (RMA), and been fined a total of $131,840.
The fine is the largest imposed for illegal dairy effluent discharges into the environment in the Waikato region since the RMA came into force in 1991.
The company, Pollock Farms (2011) Limited, operates a dairy farm on Victoria Road near Cambridge. One of its directors, Dawson Craig Pollock, has been the subject of prosecution for similar breaches of the RMA in 1993 and 2001.
In addition to the fine, the court has imposed an Enforcement Order on the company to ensure appropriate effluent management infrastructure is installed.
The convictions, fines and enforcement order were imposed by Judge Melanie Harland in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, 4 March, following guilty pleas by the company and director.
The case was taken by Waikato Regional Council following a series of inspections where over-irrigation of effluent was evident.
Effluent from an underpass to an adjoining property was also being pumped directly to land in large volumes. Both practices pose a real risk of effluent contaminating groundwater.
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Source: Newshub
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