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Streams of green: The worst 'dirty dairy' offending of 2019/20

Sunday, 23 August 2020

Dairy effluent discharge into the Waimapu Stream, Bay of Plenty

A family arriving at a swimming hole to find it green with effluent, a farmer describing effluent overflowing into a drain as '’only a dribble’' and what a judge described as one of the most serious cases of dirty dairying he had ever seen. All feature among dirty dairying offending in the latest year.

The 2019/2020 year saw 15 companies and 17 individuals sentenced for their parts in 26 cases where dairy effluent entered rivers, streams, wetlands, or on to land where it could have entered waterways or groundwater.

The sight that greeted a family that went to have a barbecue at a swimming hole in the upper part of the Waimapu Stream on the evening of January 7, 2018.
The sight that greeted a family that went to have a barbecue at a swimming hole in the upper part of the Waimapu Stream on the evening of January 7, 2018.

Fines of $1,227,104 were imposed, 90 per cent of which will go to the regional councils undertaking the prosecutions.

A further 277 abatement notices and 216 infringement notices were issued.

**READ MORE:

* Dairy farm company caused stream to 'run green' and closed popular swimming spot for a week

* Dairy farm company admits discharging 80,000 litres of effluent to stream

Council staff take samples of effluent ponding at Gurnam Singh
Council staff take samples of effluent ponding at Gurnam Singh's farm in Waikato. He and his company were fined $63,000. (File photo)

* Waikato councils pinged 38 times for illegal wastewater discharges over five years

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The number of abatement notices is about average (the annual average since 2009 is 271). The number of infringement notices is lower than average (340) but the number of successful prosecutions, 26, was higher than the average of 24.

Roger Prout was fined $31,875 for offending on an Orini farm in Waikato.
Roger Prout was fined $31,875 for offending on an Orini farm in Waikato.

Stuff has been collecting figures on the number of convictions for “dirty dairying” offences since 2009/10. These figures represent the most serious offending.

The four-week alert level 4 lockdown had an impact on the latest figures, although most councils reported it was minor. But in at least one case, the solicitor-general’s guidelines on keeping courts free for only high level offending led to the withdrawal of an abatement notice for dairy effluent offending in Canterbury.

Waikato Regional Council carried out no proactive monitoring for several weeks of the lockdown and says there was no way of telling how compliant farms were for that period.

Fish and Game chief executive Martin Taylor says new national freshwater reforms will only work if regional councils do their job.
Fish and Game chief executive Martin Taylor says new national freshwater reforms will only work if regional councils do their job.

Featuring among the cases resolved this year was one involving a family who went to have a barbecue at a swimming hole in the upper part of the Waimapu Stream, near Tauranga, on the evening of January 7, 2018.

Arriving at the stream, the family found the water heavily discoloured and smelling very strongly of effluent. It surprised the family because earlier in the day the water had been clear.

One of the family walked upstream to find dairy effluent flowing from a farm drain into the stream.

It led to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council prosecuting contract milking company DJK Ltd and its sole director David Kehely. Both pleaded guilty and in May this year the company was fined $46,962.50.

Kehely, who left the dairy industry after the prosecution, was convicted and discharged following a restorative justice meeting in which he made a “heartfelt and sincere” apology to the family after learning of the stream’s cultural significance.

Another notable offence was that of Northland farmer Barry McAuley, whose offending in mid and late 2018 was described by Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith – 20 years in the role – as “some of the more serious offending that this court has seen”.

Over several weeks, effluent flowed from a split irrigation pipe on McAuley’s farm into drains and eventually the Waipu River.

Since 2008, McAuley had received 14 infringement notices and eight abatement notices, and “it is thus remarkable that this is the first time you have come to the attention of the court itself”, Judge Smith said.

McAuley was fined $28,500.

The number of incidents will fall, says Federated Farmers environment spokesman Chris Allen.
The number of incidents will fall, says Federated Farmers environment spokesman Chris Allen.

Down in Balclutha, contract milker Greg Cowley Ltd sent effluent from 550 cows into a tributary of the Pomahaka River in April 2018. The effluent could be seen over 1.7 kilometres in the waterways. It was the 12th case involving dairy effluent entering the Pomahaka. The company was fined $39,000.

Waikato accounted for 17 of the 26 sentencings in the year.

Among them was the offending by Nigel Rowan, who refused to give council officers his date of birth and told them the effluent spilling from his filled ponds was “only a dribble”.

Twice in 2018, council officers found large areas on one of his three farms, west of Hamilton, covered in ponds of effluent, where it could enter nearby waterways. He was fined $61,837.

‘REFORMS ONLY AS GOOD AS MONITORING’ – FISH & GAME

Fish and Game chief executive Martin Taylor said the figures were unlikely to represent the true level of offending.

“One thing we know is that regional councils are not good at making farmers comply with environmental obligations. This has been confirmed by Local Government New Zealand in two reports on regional councils in 2019 and 2020. These reports call out councils for ‘significant shortcomings’ when it comes to compliance, monitoring and enforcement functions under the RMA,” he said.

“What we do know is the Government’s freshwater reforms, announced last month to stop the further degradation of our waterways and restore them for future generations, will fail unless regional councils do their jobs and make polluters comply with new environmental rules,” he said.

EXPECT NUMBERS TO FALL – FED FARMERS

Federated Farmers environment spokesman Chris Allen said recognition should be given to “the work done by many thousands of farmers over a long period – not to mention tens of millions of dollars of investment – to get this right”.

”We have over 12,000 farms running complex farming businesses. Despite the best efforts of farmers and their staff, there are bound to be some faults and mistakes on occasions – and that is represented in the abatement numbers. Farmers are now all too aware that having an inadequate effluent system is a liability for their business, and shortfalls need to be rectified or there will be unwanted issues and enforcement action,” Allen said.

“There's a difference between a ratbag – someone blatantly doing something they know to be wrong – and a case of human error or mechanical breakdown leading to an effluent spill. We’d like to see councils always working to get that balance and recognition right when they take prosecutions,” he said.

He expected the number of incidents to gradually fall “as improvements continue in the technology available to use on-farm, as well as connectivity gains and continued uptake of best management practices”.

DAIRY EFFLUENT OFFENDING. SENTENCES 2019/2020: