A dairy farming company has been fined nearly $50,000 for discharging effluent to land where it could enter a watercourse and for breaching an abatement notice.
Montheo Farms Ltd is based at Mamaku near Rotorua and the prosecution was brought against the company by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
The farm drains into tributaries of the Ngongotaha stream which flow into Lake Rotorua.
The 367-hectare farm milks up to 600 cows, an almost 50 percent increase in herd size from when consent was granted in 2000.
In sentencing Montheo Farms in the Tauranga District Court, Judge Harland said the council had put the company on notice about the risk of their effluent system, but had focused on expanding their land and stocking rates rather than on improving their system.
Montheo has since spent about $400,000 upgrading it.
