A Waimana dairy farmer has been fined more than $12,000 plus court and legal costs for a dairy effluent discharge.
John Wilson, who farms in Hodges Road, pleaded guilty in the Environment Court to discharging effluent from an irrigator in circumstances which may have resulted in the effluent entering a drain.

A broken irrigator line resulted in effluent ponding and entering the spring fed Matatere Stream. That stream feeds the Waimana and Whakatane rivers.
The Matatere stream is uphill from the Wardlaw Glade, listed as one of the 24 major bathing areas in the Bay of Plenty.
The irrigator had been left unattended for a number of days.
Wilson was fined $12,229.16 and ordered to pay court and legal costs of $243. His is the fifth prosecution from just one season's monitoring.