Latest effluent compliance figures from Otago are in line with an improved environmental performance by dairy farmers.
Otago Regional Council says more than 90% of the 350+ dairy farms inspected during the past season fully complied with effluent discharge conditions.
Thirty four were non-compliant. The council prosecuted five of these and issued multiple infringement notices to two others for serious breaches.
But regional services manager Jeff Donaldson says that's well below the 46 prosecutions issued for the two previous seasons.
Monitoring results for Waikato also show a big improvement in effluent compliance. Two thirds of farms there are fully compliant and the number of significant breaches halving.
And about two thirds of farms in the second biggest dairying region, Canterbury were also fully compliant last season, up from 59% the previous season.