Piggery effluent polluting stream
Waikato Regional Council has sought an interim Enforcement Order from the Environment Court to stop piggery effluent from entering a waterway north of Te Aroha.
HAMILTON DISTRICT Court has fined a Waikato based farm and a contractor for separate incidences of illegally effluent dumping.
Both farms were deemed to have inadequate systems in place due to their lack of contingency measures according to judge Melanie Harland.
Joe MacFarlane's farm near Te Kauwhata, received a fine of $55,800 after council staff inspecting the property in July last year, discovered an effluent hose placed next to a wetland.
The farmer had placed the hose there and had discharged all of the effluent from the farm's dairy shed into the wetland over the previous 19-days.
The farm's usual practice was to irrigate effluent directly to land as it was being produced. However, there were no contingencies to deal with effluent in the event of stormy weather or mechanical failure. In this case the irrigator had recently broken down and the effluent, estimated to be about 150,000 litres, was discharged directly to the environment instead.
"With all of the attention and profile around water quality nationally it is very disappointing to find such an inadequate system and, even worse, to find someone who made the conscious decision to dispose of effluent into a wetland for a prolonged period," says council investigations manager Patrick Lynch.
In a separate incident Orion Haulage Ltd has been fined $32,400 for illegally discharging into a stream.
The charge initially rose from a complaint about contamination in a Walton waterway in October 2013.
Council staff tracked the contamination back to a nearby dairy farm where they found a combination of dairy farm effluent and whey permeate discharging from an effluent pond directly on to the banks of the stream.
While Orion Haulage held resource consent to spread the dairy by-products on to the farm subject to certain conditions, poor management of the pond levels had allowed it to overflow.
"This case highlights the fact that even when a farm has good infrastructure in place, there is still a great need for that system to be managed at all times to prevent these types of discharges to the environment," says Lynch.
Farmer-led charity, Meat the Need is calling for donations to enable it to supply more meals to families in need.
Weaker pricing and demand from China continue to impact New Zealand red meat export earnings.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: The new government has clearly signalled big cuts across the public service.
OPINION: Your canine crusader is not surprised by the recent news that New Zealand plant-based ‘fake meat’ business is in…