A dairy farming company has been convicted and fined $49,000 for allowing effluent to overflow from storage ponds and into a Waikato waterway.
Apex Farming Limited was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on June 30 on a charge for an offence under the Resource Management Act.
The case stems from a compliance inspection in late January 2024 at the company’s 450-cow farm at Wharepuhunga, near Te Awamutu, where council officers discovered effluent overflowing from one storage pond.
Judge Melinda Dickey found the defendant was careless in their management of the farm effluent ponds, and the system was vulnerable to human error or lack of oversight.
Council staff found “effluent ponding in the surrounding paddock and running off into a farm drain, which is a tributary of the Mangawhara Stream.
“Council officers heard that the effluent irrigation pump had been repeatedly blocking for 12 months, making it difficult to manage pond volumes,” according to the council.
Waikato Regional Council acting regional compliance manager Evan Billington said: “It is very disappointing to find a situation where effluent management has been given such a low priority as to allow an effluent pond to overflow in the middle of summer.”
