Waikato Regional Council is resuming monitoring by helicopter of effluent management on dairy farms.
The council started its seasonal checks on farms in the Pokeno and Hamilton areas, but suspended them to give farmers a break because of complications flowing from the extremely wet winter.
Compliance manager Rob Dragten says the saturated conditions meant farmers were finding it dificult to comply with effluent discharge rules.
Despite trying to follow proper practices, he says many were still left with overflowing effluent ponds or irrigating onto already sodden ground.
But Mr Dragten says six weeks of below-normal rainfall has eased those conditions, so the council has decided it's time to get back to regular helicopter monitoring.
