Rules requiring stock to be kept at least 3m from water-courses during intensive winter grazing are being enforced on all types of farms in Southland.
Many sheep farmers only realised they were included when they received an infringement notice and the council needed to do more to educate all farmers - not just dairy farmers - that they had to comply, Cr Peter Jones told a recent Environment Southland meeting.
Sediment and nutrient run-off from intensive winter grazing was a major contributor to poor water quality and more clarity and compliance was needed, chairwoman Ali Timms said.
If the breach was serious enough, first offenders could receive an infringement notice.
• Environment Southland and representatives from the dairy industry are holding a workshop this month to discuss progress on several collaborative projects under way as part of efforts to save the Waituna Lagoon.
Thirteen projects are under way in the Waituna catchment, 10 of which involve Environment Southland staff, and range from on-farm assessments to developing policies to address the effects of intensification and nutrient management.
Several other projects and activities are being carried out by agencies such as Fonterra and DairyNZ that will help Waituna landowners.
• A State of the Environment report, focusing on Southland's waterways and released last month, said the pressures dairy farming had put on freshwater ecosystems in the region had increased markedly since 2001, particularly through effluent disposal and the expansion and intensification of dairying.