Waikato Regional Council will suspend the use of helicopters for monitoring dairy farm effluent while it reviews the way it maks sure farmers are sticking to the rules.
The council's environmental performance committee had recommended halting the flights because of the stress they were causing farmers, and the council has accepted that recommendation.
Meanwhile, the Otago Regional Council will increase its aerial surveillance of farms to ensure stock grazing practices over winter do not breach new water quality rules.
A council spokesperson it would be checking to make sure sediment was not getting into waterways from pugging and bank collapses caused by stock.
