Waihi Dairy Farmer Fined $39,000 for Dairy Effluent Breaches
A Waihi dairy farmer, Keith Torrens, has been convicted and fined $39,000 for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent following a prosecution taken by Waikato Regional Council.
Arrick Limited was convicted and sentenced by District Court Judge Melinda Dickey on 4 February 2025 on a charge filed under the Resource Management Act, with the sentencing decision received this week.
In November 2023, Waikato Regional Council officers conducted a compliance inspection at a farm owned by the defendant at Taupiri, north of Hamilton.
They found the dairy effluent storage pond was overflowing, with effluent ponding in the surrounding paddock at such a depth and volume that it posed a risk of contaminating groundwater.
In her sentencing decision, Judge Dickey found the system was poorly managed in the time leading up to the offending and concluded that the defendant had been highly careless in its management of proper effluent disposal on the farm.
“Unfortunately, this is a case where the defendant has failed to address effluent management on the property despite repeated requests by the council since 2012 for the farm owner to upgrade the farm effluent system and previous discharges from the same pond,” says Waikato Regional Council acting regional compliance manager Evan Billington.
“The rules are very clear, and do not permit the discharge and ponding of effluent from effluent holding facilities,” Billington says.
“That’s because large volumes of ponded effluent can pose a real risk of contaminating groundwater.”
