Dairy consents closely monitored

Dairy effluent systems are monitored by the council. Photo / File

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council will start visiting dairy farms this month to ensure they are compliant with their dairy discharge consents.

In 2014/15, it monitored 290 dairy shed consents and found 74 per cent complied with consent conditions at the first visit while 9 per cent had a serious non-compliance noted. In total, seven abatement notices and 11 infringements were issued and no prosecutions.

This compared with 343 dairy shed consents monitored in 2013/14 when 70 per cent of consents complied at the first visit. In total, 13 per cent of consents had a serious non-compliance noted at the first visit but 23 abatement notices and 14 infringements were issued. One serious case resulted in a recommendation to prosecute.

Pollution prevention team leader Steve Pickles said it visited 53 fewer farms last season because it operated a risk-based monitoring programme, where higher risk systems were inspected more frequently than lower risk systems.

"Basically, the programme allows for compliance visits to be made on one-, two- or three-yearly frequencies, depending on the compliance history and the risk of the effluent disposal system for each farm. As sites can be re-graded after each season, the number of farms inspected differs every year."

Auditing consent holders was important and usually took several months to complete.

"We regularly monitor dairy shed effluent systems to reduce the risk of nutrients and pathogens being released into waterways by unauthorised dairy discharges.

"The aim of our audits is to help farmers understand and comply with the conditions of their consents, so that water quality is protected."

Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty dairy chairman Steve Bailey said compliance had become part of farming practice.

Big inroads had been made despite the low payout year but that was "not an excuse for farmers to take their eye off the ball", he said.

"It will certainly add stress but we still have to maintain standards ... it is a huge responsibility to run a farm and we have a huge responsibility on the land so we have just got to keep our finger on the pulse."

-If farmers were unsure about compliance or had difficulties with their effluent system, they should contact the Bay of Plenty Regional Council on 0800 884 880.