The full effluent storage pond on J B Thomas & Sons Limited's dairy farm in Broadlands Rd, Reporoa in November 2021. Photo / Waikato Regional Council
The full effluent storage pond on J B Thomas & Sons Limited's dairy farm in Broadlands Rd, Reporoa in November 2021. Photo / Waikato Regional Council
A Reporoa dairy farm owner has been fined $71,250 after illegally discharging effluent from a storage pond that ended up in a nearby stream, and breaching an earlier abatement notice.
J B Thomas & Sons Limited was sentenced by Chief Environment Court Judge David Kirkpatrick on July 17 after the company earlier pleaded guilty to two charges.
The first was breaching the Resource Management Act by permitting the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent on to land, where it then entered water, in November 2021.
The second was breaching a July 2019 abatement notice by failing to cease unlawfully discharging effluent from a storage pond.
This is the company’s third such prosecution, following convictions for effluent-related offending in 2001 and 2020, Judge Kirkpatrick said in his sentencing notes.
He said the prosecution was taken by the Waikato Regional Council following an inspection at the 185-hectare Broadlands Rd farm on November 29, 2021, when officers found the effluent storage pond on the property was full and had been overflowing.
The overflow had run into a farm drain that discharged into the Kopuhurihuri Stream, which was about 155 metres away and a tributary to the Waiotapu Stream.
This discharge also breached an abatement notice previously issued to the company directing the company to manage its effluent lawfully.
The notes described the stream as of great significance to Ngāti Tahu - Ngāti Whaoa and said it was noted for its geothermal nature.
A Waikato Regional Council officer taking samples of the effluent flow path from J B & Sons Limited's dairy farm in Reporoa in November 2021. Photo / Waikato Regional Council
Four water samples were taken by the council officers and three revealed elevated levels of faecal matter and E.coli.
“The E.coli levels were many times higher than the recommended guideline for safe recreational water contact use.”
A J B Thomas & Sons’ director, named in the decision as a Mr Thomas, told a council inspector he discovered the valve used to direct the effluent flow was faulty and he had replaced it.
On January 22 last year, during an interview with a council officer, the director confirmed he checked the effluent storage pond a week before this discharge but stated he had not rechecked it during recent rainfall, and only checked it the day of the inspection.
He also told the officer things had been busy and staff numbers on the farm had been affected by Covid-19.
Prior to this, on July 23, 2019, the council had issued an abatement notice to the defendant because of previous non-compliance issues. It remained in force at the time of the 2021 discharge.
The council prosecutor characterised the offending as negligent and careless and sought a fine of $95,000 to $115,000, with a 15 per cent uplift for prior offending, then a 25 per cent discount for guilty pleas.
The defence argued there were “several mitigating factors” which reduced the company’s culpability, and the appropriate starting point for the fine should be between $35,000 and $40,000.
Those factors included the infrastructure failure, the defendant’s co-operation with the prosecutor, speedy and effective remedial actions, genuine remorse and early guilty pleas.
Judge Kirkpatrick said the nature of this discharge and history of other offending indicated “systematic problems”.
Alongside poor management and the mechanical failure, the abatement notice breach was a “significant” offence, he said.
Judge Kirkpatrick said the gravity of the offending and the culpability of the defendant were moderately serious.
“While not deliberate, I consider the defendant was clearly careless,” he said.
Judge Kirkpatrick declined to discharge the defendant without conviction on the abatement notice breach and imposed a fine totalling $71,250, along with $130 court costs and $226 solicitor costs.
“I do not consider that it can be said the consequences of the defendant not having insurance cover would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence in this case.”
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
