Council and dairy industry caution against last-minute consent applications
Posted on Monday, 22 August 2011 10:26 a.m.
With over 400 farm dairy effluent discharge consents due to expire in the next three years, Environment Southland is urging farmers to think ahead about what they will need to do to get a new consent.
Farmers will need to check whether their existing infrastructure complies with the current council standards. Where it doesn’t they may need to build larger effluent storage ponds or install new irrigation systems to comply. While the construction doesn’t need to be complete before an application is lodged, the design work does, and it can take some time to complete.
If an application for a new consent is lodged more than three months before the old one expires, the Council can allow a farmer to continue discharging effluent under the existing consent while the new application is processed, Consents Manager John Engel said. But the Resource Management Act doesn’t allow this to happen if a new consent application is filed less than three months before the existing consent expires.
“There’s no discretion in the matter,” Mr Engel said.
One Southland dairy farmer has already found this out the hard way. Neglecting to lodge a timely application to renew his effluent discharge consent has left him having to truck his effluent to a neighbour’s property for disposal while his new consent application is processed.
Farmers will also need to get professional engineering advice about the design and construction of their pond and effluent management system. This could prove a bottleneck for those who left things to the last minute. “If farmers think they may be held up by the unavailability of consultants, they should contact our staff at an early stage to see what can be done to ensure the continuity of their operation,” Mr Engel said.
Federated Farmers Dairy Chairman Russell MacPherson has echoed the call for farmers to think ahead about their discharge consents.
“The rules are quite simple: if you haven’t got a discharge consent you cannot discharge effluent,” he said.
“If farmers have a consent expiring in the next three years it is probably wise to start talking to the people that can advise you to get the right dairy effluent systems in place for your farm.
“Federated Farmers with the help of DairyNZ and Fonterra have worked very hard with Environment Southland to have a cooperative approach regarding dairy effluent so that we have a scientific outcome to ensure that the system that farmers build will be the best for that farm’s soil and climate.”
Specialist Fonterra and DairyNZ staff also provide technical support around effluent system design and operation. Hayley Keenan, Sustainable Dairying Adviser for Fonterra in Southland, said that it was in the best interests of dairy farmers to be planning ahead. “Managing farm dairy effluent is a job that has to be done well. Investment in the appropriate infrastructure has to be planned both technically and financially,” she said.
The Council’s Compliance Manager, Mark Hunter, said that in the worst case scenario, a farmer would have to stop milking and dry off the herd if there was no consent to discharge effluent from the dairy shed. “We wouldn’t want to get to that stage, but we will issue abatement notices if farms are discharging effluent without a consent.”
The Southland farmer at the centre of the current concern was fortunate to find another farmer willing and able to take his dairy effluent, Mr Hunter said. “When both farms are milking at full capacity, it may well be a different story.”
Environment Southland is the brand name of Southland Regional Council.