Dairy farmers in Marlborough can expect stricter regulations and a clamp down on compliance, according to the district council.
The warning comes in the light of a recent audit which showed dairy shed effluent, stream crossings and fencing remains inadequate or incomplete on a number of farms.
Amongst the findings were twenty high-risk farms with minimal or no effluent storage and ten non-compliant farms.
Council environment committee chairman Peter Jerram said the council has no choice but to toughen up:
"We've been giving the signals for quite some time, particularly with stream crossings, then the fencing off waterways," he said.
"The non-regulatory approach of saying you have to do this and we'd like to help you, doesn't seem to be helping with some of these people so we're saying that gentle approach might be coming to an end."