Are you a farmer in the Otago Regional Council area? 

Here’s what the ORC Plan Change 8 might mean for you….

The ORC Plan Change 8 was publicly notified on 6 July 2020 by the Environmental Protection Authority. As part of this plan change, a number of new rules were introduced that will aim to regulate farm animal waste systems and discharges, along with intensive grazing. Here’s what you may be required to do under this new plan change: 

Animal Waste Systems:

Either prove your system meets the permitted activity criteria by:

• Completing a Dairy Effluent Storage Calculation
• Pond Drop Testing your Effluent Storage
• Visual Inspection of your Effluent System

Or apply for a Land Use Consent for your effluent storage

You will also need to apply for a Discharge Consent

Intensive Grazing:

Apply for a Resource Consent if:

• You are intensively grazing more than 100 ha or 10% of the total landholding (the lesser of the two);
• Your intensive grazing area includes a critical source area;
• Are break-feeding from the bottom to the top of a slope; or
• You cannot maintain a 10m buffer from the grazing area to a waterway.