Two people from the Waikato have been convicted and fined a total of $109,000 over separate pollution events resulting from poor management of effluent infrastructure. Paddy Smith Limited, a Matamata truck wash business, was fined $60,000 by Judge Jeff Smith in the Tauranga District Court for the unlawful discharge of animal effluent from the washdown of stock trucks at its rural site. The Waikato Regional Council responded to a complaint from a member of the public in May 2020. Meanwhile, Hauraki farmer William Gary Brunt was fined $49,000 by Judge Brian Dwyer in the Hamilton District Court for unlawfully discharging animal effluent into the environment at his Netherton farm. An effluent holding pond was found to be overflowing into a nearby paddock by regional council staff during a routine inspection in August 2019.

Source: Stuff May 03, 2021 01:18 UTC