Effluent discharge penalty part cancelled for Southland farmer

Photo / File

A Southland farmer has had part of his penalty cancelled after a dirty dairying incident five years ago.

Klaas Waslander was found guilty of charges in relation to discharging dairy effluent to land in 2016. He was found guilty in the Environment Court in 2017.

One of the orders of the court was the defendant had to build a second effluent pond to ensure there was sufficient storage capacity for his dairy milking operation.

Waslander filed an application in the Environment Court in August this year saying since the order was made in 2017 he had faced numerous financial restraints and pressure to complete the work.

While the work had not been done, he had reduced his farming operation and was looking to sell most of the property.

He had received consent to subdivide the farm into five new lots of which he intended to keep two lots. No farming activities would be carried out on the lots.

Waslander said the order was no longer necessary and he applied to the court for it to be cancelled.

The Southland District Council, which brought the prosecution, was not opposed to the cancellation.

Environment Court judge Prudence Steven said in a written decision the council had initially sought the order because of concern over the state of the property's effluent system.

Since the incident, the silage storage facility was no longer being used to store silage, a broken pipe had been replaced and with the property being destocked, effluent capacity was not an issue.

Judge Steven said all parties consented to the cancellation and he was satisfied the cancellation was appropriate.