Waikato dairy farmers will face even closer scrutiny this season as the regional council gets tough on effluent compliance rules.

Environment Waikato monitors around 15% of the region’s dairy farms each year, it plans to up that to 25%.

Council compliance and education manager Rob Dragten says things need to change after significant non-compliance rose 5% last season.

“It’s part of a joint strategy that we have to improve levels of compliance. We’re disappointed that last year we saw an increase in levels of significant non-compliance and so as a result we’re looking to monitor more farms this year.”

Effluent disposal is classed as a permitted activity in the Waikato, and the onus is on farmers to learn the rules and follow them.

Rob Dragten says that will always breed a vocal minority who oppose the council’s inspection work.

“At the end of the day we have a compliance role, we are a regulator and part of our job is to hold people accountable for not doing the right thing. We try and do that in as professional a way as we possibly can, but in this kind of role we accept that there is always going to be a small minority  who won’t be happy about that.”

Mr Dragten says more than 80% of non-compliant farms last season had fixed the problem on re-inspection.