Two Te Anau farms have been convicted of discharging a contaminant (a mixture of effluent, soil and run-off) into a creek.

Scott Farming 2012 Ltd and Waiau Terraces Ltd appeared last week (December 8) before Environment Court Judge Brian Dwyer in Invercargill and were fined $9750 each.

Environment Southland compliance manager Simon Mapp said this week the farm companies had since taken measures to prevent a similar incident happening again.

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The case was an “excellent reminder” of the need to have good intensive grazing management practices in place, he said.

“This was a case of intensive winter grazing that did not employ good management practices and when hit with a significant weather event these landowners were caught out.

“It serves as an excellent reminder that good management practices require landowners to ensure their systems are set up to manage these events, as we know they will occur and that cannot be an excuse for having negative impacts on the surrounding environment. 

“We recognise that the landowners in this case have completed a number of preventative measures that should mitigate future issues and this was recognised in the sentencing,” Mr Mapp said.