An Otago dairy company has been fined $39,000 for discharging effluent in circumstances where it might have entered water.
In a decision announced today, Greg Cowley Limited was sentenced in the Otago District Court "on one charge of discharging dairy farm effluent onto land in circumstances where it might enter water."
The charge was brought by the Otago Regional Council (ORC).
According to the ORC: "The sentencing followed an incident in April 2018 in which equipment failure led to effluent entering the Pomahaka river from a tributary on a Balclutha dairy farm.
"Greg Cowley Limited earlier pleaded guilty to the charge, and the district court in sentencing judged the pollution to fall within the ‘moderately serious’ band of offending, meaning it was an unintentional but careless discharge, with little to moderate adverse effect on the environment."
ORC Acting General Manager Regulatory Peter Winder said the prosecution was a good result for the environment.
An ORC inspection on 20 April, 2018 found an irrigator on the Balclutha farm, that was setup to spread dairy effluent onto land, failed and went unnoticed for around six hours.
The failure led to "ponded effluent covering the majority of a 2200 square metre paddock."
According to the council, the effluent flowed over land into a tributary to the Pomahaka River, where green discharge could be seen entering the water.
Visible effluent discharge into the tributary and the Pomahaka River extended over a period of about 1.7 kilometres, affecting the clarity of the river and its tributary.
Greg Cowley Limited was fined $39,000 for the offence, and the judge cited its immediate co-operation and prompt guilty plea in setting the penalty, the ORC says.
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