GDC gets tick for monitoring dairy effluent

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne District Council is rated among the best performers for dairy sector effluent monitoring and enforcment in a major new report released by Forest and Bird.

The report Cleaning Up: Fixing Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement in the Dairy Sector exposes significant inconsistencies and gaps in how regional councils are enforcing the rules around dairy effluent management.

GDC achieved one hundred percent compliance across five monitored dairy farms with no serious non-compliance (SNC) instances.

Forest and Bird used the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to request data and information from all regional councils and unitary authorities between November 2017 and June 2018.

The request included questions about instances of serious non-compliance and what enforcement action the councils took in response.

Forest and Bird’s freshwater advocate and report co-author Annabeth Cohen said it was disappointing how many councils were failing with basic monitoring for environmental risk.

“Regional councils are supposed to protect our rivers, lakes and wetlands.

“It’s time the Government took stronger action to rein in poorly performing councils,” she said.

A total of 5000 dairy farms were not inspected for dairy effluent compliance in 2016-17, and nine seriously non-compliant farms in the Waikato had not been inspected for over 10 years.

“These farms seem to have got away with polluting unchecked for the last decade,” said Ms Cohen.

Thirty-eight percent of the farms found to be seriously non-compliant did not receive any formal enforcement action such as an abatement notice, an infringement notice or a prosecution.

“This is extremely concerning, given ‘serious non-compliance’ means significant damage to the environment has either occurred or was imminent.

“We are facing a freshwater crisis yet too many councils are letting farmers get away with breaking the rules.”

One persistent offender in Northland received four abatement notices and eight infringement notices but was not prosecuted.

Forest and Bird has issued report cards based on council performance in detecting and responding to dairy effluent serious non-compliance.

Ms Cohen says that while some councils were doing a good job, it was very concerning that some of the big dairying regions were not pulling their weight, such as Waikato and Southland.

Forest and Bird has set out a range of recommendations for regional councils and central government.

“It’s simple really — we want all councils to know all dairy farms in their region, inspect all farms every year, and take appropriate action when rules are broken.

As for the Government, it was time they ensured councils met these basic requirements and took stronger action to rein in poorly performing councils,” she said.

“We welcome the new Resource Management Act Oversight Unit announced by Environment Minister David Parker in this year’s Budget, but it’s crucial that the unit be given a strong mandate and proper resourcing to actually hold councils to account.”