Keith Watkins has been farmer all his life and his father before him but this could all change if he is unable to continue driving his cows along Main Creek Road to his dairy.

A letter from Dungog Council stated that “surface water runoff, mixed with cow manure effluent, has been witnessed by council officers being discharged from this area to the road drainage system during periods of rain”.

“While it is accepted that the use of the road reserve for the walking of stock is permitted under a permit used by NSW Local Land Services and has been conducted in the current manner for many years, council is not satisfied that the activity’s environmental impact has been properly and responsibly addressed,” the letter said.

“It is council’s opinion that by allowing the continued unmanaged deposition of large quantities of cow manure in locations where it may be washed or discharged to a receiving body of water, you may be creating an offence under the provisions of the Protection of the Environmental Operations Act 1997.”

Mr Watkins lawyer Paul McGirr, who formerly had a dairy at Vacy and has been acting for dairy farmers in the Land and Environment Court said 1969, said no one has ever acted on the act [Protection of the Environmental Operations Act 1997] in regards to dairy farming.

“This is a draconian use of the law made in 1997, setting a precedent for all dairy farmers in New South Wales,” Mr McGirr said.

“The number of people living on the road has not increased over the years it’s just change of ownership.

“The property has been operating as a dairy farm for over 100 years and the people who have purchased properties up the road had to know there are cows on the road.

“Keith has already installed a number of silt traps to catch the water off the side of the road.

“It seems to me this is historically a traffic complaint by a few residents.”

Mr Watkins said he spent a million dollars on the dairy and a further $200,000 fulfilling environmental obligations of the development application.

“This is my life, my father’s and another one before him,” he said.

“There are no more cows on this road and no more cars than 50 years ago.

“I supply 3.3 million litres of milk a year and employ six people plus my wife and I.

“I am about to sign with a new milk company but not sure if I should go ahead or not.

“There may be no future for me as a dairy farmer here if this gets up.”

Council has ordered Mr Watkins to prepare a manure management plan that addresses the control of pollutants caused by walking the cows on Main Creek Road which includes a method of cleaning up the manure deposited on the road surface and initiatives and protocols to ensure pollutants do not discharge to Main Creek or any receiving drains or run-off pathways.

Manager of Environmental Services Paul Minett said council has long been concerned over the environmental impacts caused by the twice daily walking of around 400 dairy cows along Main Creek road between the operator’s landholdings and the dairy.

“This regularly involves the walking of the cows for many kilometres and across a one lane bridge,” he said.

“The various nuisances caused by manure build up on the road has been the source of complaint by Main Creek residents for many years however the impact of concentrated cow manure being washed into Main Creek should concern the wider community.

“Main Creek forms part of the Williams River drinking catchment and the pollution of the catchment has repercussions for our drinking water quality, the degradation of the surrounding aquatic environment and the escalating costs to the community of water treatment further down the catchment.

“Council officers have discussed options for reducing the impact of the movement of cattle without success as historically the cattle have been walked on the roadway and the operator has indicated no intention of changing this.

“Unfortunately, council has now been placed in a position where enforcement action under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act has been commenced in order to require the operators to address their responsibilities in regard to pollution and to bring this matter to a resolution.”