Dairy farmers getting the message on effluent compliance

The Otago Regional Council (ORC) will maintain its stringent enforcement regime in relation to effluent breaches on dairy farms, despite improvements in some grades of compliance during 2010-2011.

ORC staff did 411 inspections (including follow-ups) of 389 dairy farms between September last year and April this year. Of the farms visited, 355 (representing 91.2 percent) were found to be compliant with ORC’s permitted activity rules and-or their resource consent conditions.

A total of 34 dairy farms (8.8 percent) were found to have one or more breaches of the permitted activity rule. These breaches were considered to have the potential to adversely affect the environment.

Seven of the 34 non-compliant farms were found to be seriously non-compliant with the permitted activity rules, resulting in ORC initiating five prosecutions and issuing multiple infringement notices to two farms.

Regulatory committee chairman Cr Bryan Scott said it was pleasing to note that there were far fewer prosecutions for permitted activity breaches during the last milking season, compared to the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons when 46 dairy farms were prosecuted.

ORC regional services group manager Jeff Donaldson said staff had noticed that several farms had invested in major upgrades of their effluent management structure by installing effluent storage systems, gatorbuddies (electronic sensor systems which are triggered should irrigators fail) on irrigation systems, and upgrading K-line irrigation systems.

Cr Scott said this represented an increasingly responsible approach by some farmers to effluent management, and reflected intensive efforts by ORC staff to educate them about complying with the permitted activity rules.

“We would far rather collaborate with farmers to produce good environmental and economic outcomes, than prosecute them,” he said.

“That said, there is a minority of farmers who sadly aren’t as responsible as the majority of their peers when it comes to effluent management. For this reason, we will continue to maintain a stringent enforcement regime with a view to further improving those compliance figures,” Cr Scott said.

Of the 389 dairy farms inspected in 2009/10, 369 (94.8%) were compliant and 14 (3.4%) were classified as non-compliant with minor breaches of the permitted activity rules found. A total of six (1.8%) farms were classified with potential to have more than minor non-compliance with the permitted activity rules. One infringement fine ($750) was issued as a result of minor non-compliance. Eleven prosecution actions were taken (six as a result of complaint investigation that were not part of the routine dairy inspections).
Since 2003 a total of 52 infringement fines have been issued and 64 prosecutions initiated (62 since 2007-08) as a result of routine monitoring.

Mr Donaldson said that as dairy effluent discharges have the potential to contaminate water quality, all farms in the Otago region have been inspected since 2001. The inspections supplement investigations carried out by ORC environmental services staff of any complaints which may be received about discharges from farms.