A Morrinsville farming company has been fined nearly $50,000 over its effluent discharge.
B & V Singh was charged with unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into farm drains that flow into a tributary of the Piako River.
The Hamilton District Court also heard that a director of the company Bilkar Singh asked inspectors to take water samples in a manner that would not show any environmental effect and repeatedly asked, "How much to make it go away?"
The Waikato Regional Council's investigations manager, Patrick Lynch, said such dairying practices must not happen.
He said Mr Singh's behaviour in trying to influence council officers was appalling.