A Hukerenui dairy farmer is "flabbergasted" by the $40,000 he's been fined for polluting a stream but the region's environment watchdog says the damage from an effluent spill justifies the penalty.
Stephen Geoffrey Purvis, 34, and Share Farms EP, of which he's a shareholder, has been ordered by District Court judge Greg Davis to pay the fine during six months.
On October 13, 2011, a council officer discovered a blocked pipe had caused an unknown volume of untreated effluent to flow into a drain and into the tributary.
Purvis was ordered to pay $5000 while the balance of $35,000 is to be paid by the company. He said the fine would put him and his family under huge pressure, both financially and personally.
"I am flabbergasted by the prosecution, let alone the fine because the council could have said 'look there's a problem here and let's work through this' rather than take me to court."