Highly careless effluent discharge results in large fine

Dairy farming company Pukeko Place Farms Limited has been convicted and fined $52,500 for unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into the environment on a farm it manages at Kinleith, South Waikato.

The fine was imposed by Judge Sheena Tepania following a sentencing hearing in the Huntly District Court in May 2025. Her decision was released on 23 January 2026 as a result of a prosecution taken by Waikato Regional Council under the Resource Management Act.

In May 2024, council officers inspected the 240-cow dairy farm, which is owned by a family trust and managed by the defendant. At the time, the farm was operating a sump-only effluent system with no effluent storage infrastructure. This meant dairy shed effluent had to be irrigated onto land daily, regardless of weather or soil conditions.

On the day of the inspection, council officers observed significant ponding of dairy effluent on already saturated soils. The ponding resulted from overnight irrigation using a stationary irrigator and was in breach of the Resource Management Act.

“Following a council inspection in 2018, it was identified that the farm’s old earthen effluent ponds required upgrading,” said the council’s Acting Regional Compliance Manager Evan Billington. “Instead, the defendant chose to decommission the ponds and rely on a high-risk sump-only system, rather than invest in fit-for-purpose effluent storage that would allow the farm to meet its environmental obligations.

“Effluent management on this farm fell well below accepted dairy industry standards. The offending was entirely foreseeable and placed an unfair burden on the contract milker who was left to manage the system,” Mr Billington said.

In sentencing, Judge Tepania described the offending as “highly careless — an accident waiting to happen, particularly given the weather conditions in the Waikato”. She went on to state that there was “a clear lack of responsibility shown by the defendant by essentially allowing the farm to operate with inadequate infrastructure for financial reasons. That also tends towards a real want of care”.

Sentencing decision – WRC v Pukekohe Place Farms Limited  [PDF, 319 KB]

Council officer sampling ponded dairy effluent.