‘Green stream’ complaints result in fines totalling $244,000

Waikato Regional Council officers responding to reports of a contaminated Matapara Stream. Photo / Supplied

A prosecution taken by Waikato Regional Council against a dairy farming operation in Ngāroma, near Ōtorohanga, has resulted in a number of convictions, significant fines and the imposition of an Enforcement Order.

This is the third time since 2017 the council has brought a prosecution under the Resource Management Act against those involved in the ownership and management of the farm. Each case has followed complaints from the public about an otherwise clear stream, the Matapara, flowing from the farm “turning green with effluent”.

In the Hamilton District Court on July 3, Judge David Kirkpatrick convicted and fined contract milker G & V Farms Limited $52,000 for unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into the environment on two occasions between September and November 2021.

Farm owner Cazjal Farm Limited and its director, John Leonard Walling, had been earlier convicted and fined on June 2 for similar offending on three occasions between June and November 2021, and for contravening an Abatement Notice. Cazjal Farming Limited and John each received fines of $96,000.

An Enforcement Order was sought by the council, and was subsequently imposed by the court, against Cazjal Farm Limited and John. The order requires both to comply with conditions to upgrade the effluent management practices and processes on the farm. They are also required to provide the council with effluent management plans and certifications as evidence of their compliance with the order.

The council’s regional compliance manage, Patrick Lynch, said in a statement, “To have to take three prosecutions and seek a court order to try to protect our waterways from one farming operation is extremely disappointing. The court is sending a very clear message by imposing fines totalling more than $240,000, and we can only hope these farm operators have heard that message.

“We are very grateful to the farming community who have contacted us on each occasion when they have seen their local stream being polluted.”