KEY POINTS:
A farmer who took underground water without permission must pay $12,000 in fines and costs as authorities move to protect dwindling supplies in drought-prone areas.
Keith Bruce Townshend was fined in the Christchurch District Court after an officer of the Environment Canterbury (ECan) regional council noticed the illegal water-taking while inspecting his mid-Canterbury farm this year.
Water use has been a hot issue in Canterbury because of frequent drought in many areas and demands for water for irrigation.
Mr Townshend was found to have taken water from a bore on his Eiffelton property when an application to do so had not been approved.
Judge Jeff Smith took into account Mr Townshend's early guilty plea, his remorse, acknowledgement of responsibility and co-operation with ECan staff in setting the fines and court costs at $12,000.
ECan will receive 90 per cent of the fine and the rest will go to the Crown.
A sharemilker operating on Mr Townshend's property also pleaded guilty to the same charge but was discharged without conviction and ordered to pay $2500 to ECan.
The judge specified that the money be used by Environment Canterbury to educate young farmers on the seriousness of this type of offending and the need to adhere strictly to any resource consent conditions.
The sharemilker was given a discharge because of his full co-operation and honesty, his lesser culpability, remorse, good character and early guilty plea.
ECan regulatory hearing committee chairman Angus McKay said the $12,000 fine, the same as that received by a central Canterbury irrigator for a similar offence, signalled that neither the court nor ECan would tolerate illegal taking of groundwater.
This increasingly valued resource had to be safeguarded to protect the environment and existing water users.
