The owner and manager of a Wairarapa farm have been charged with letting dairy effluent run into a river.
Wellington Regional Council says it is prosecuting landowner Selwyn McLachlan of Masterton and farm manager Matthew Honeysett following an incident in which dairy effluent entered a tributary of the Ruamahanga River in October last year.
The council says a travelling irrigator was spreading effluent 10 metres from the river in a way that allowed it to pond and then run into the stream.
Environmental regulation manager Alistair Cross says council inspectors had identified problems with ponding in each of the last three annual checks.
