A Waikato farmer has been convicted for unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into the environment.
Waikato River (file picture) Photo: 123rf.com
Aaron John Miller and his company Ondaedge Farms Limited were prosecuted after an effluent pond was found to be overflowing into a drain leading to the Waikato River.
Ondaedge has now been fined $30,000, while Mr Miller was convicted and discharged without penalty.
The presiding Judge, Melanie Harland, said the offending fell between "reckless and careless".
She said while the conviction related to a single event, the cumulative effect of effluent discharge to the Waikato River was a death by a thousand cuts.
