NSW blueberry farmers and contractor fined $130,000 for building illegal dam

The NSW Land and Environment Court has fined two blueberry farmers $100,000 after they built an illegal dam on their Bucca property north of Coffs Harbour.

The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) took legal action after an investigation into the dams triggered by a report to its hotline.

Harpreet Pannu and Satvinder Pannu both pleaded guilty to constructing a water supply work without approval and carrying out unauthorised works on waterfront land between December 2022 and May 2023.

Earthmoving contractor Murray John Gray also pleaded guilty to similar charges and was fined $30,000.

In his sentencing remarks, Justice Richard Beasley described the defendants as "hardworking, decent people".

"The offending here was a kind of one-off lapse in proper judgement," he said.

The court heard Mr Gray was contracted to work on approved expansion plans for an existing dam on the farm.

But when the wall of that dam collapsed, Mr and Mrs Pannu sent him to work on a different part of the property.

The new dam was not approved by WaterNSW and the construction process removed about 1.8 hectares of native vegetation on waterfront land.

Justice Beasley described Mr Gray's actions as careless, but said it was "unlikely that he will offend again".

"I have found that, while he was careless, he did not know he was committing offences when he constructed the dam and removed the vegetation," he said.

Mr and Mrs Pannu have now received regulatory approval for the dam and no orders for its removal or demolition were made.

In their submissions to the court, the couple expressed their regret and said the decision to build the illegal dam was taken on the spur of the moment and did not take into account the consequences.

Secretary of the Bellingen Environment Centre, Catherine Jones, said "regulations need to be strengthened".

"$130,000 sounds like a lot, but the damage to the environment might be much worse.

"We need to be very careful with what we're doing with dams."

Director of investigations and enforcement at the NRAR, Tim O'Connell, said illegal dams were not a particular focus of investigations.

"Dams remain obviously a concern where they do not have the appropriate approvals," he said.

"Across the state in NSW we have over 200 active investigations; of which 13 relate to blueberry farms."

Mr O'Connell said it was important for farmers and contractors to know the rules.

"We would encourage landholders and earthmoving contractors to think about your due diligence," he said.

"Know your obligations and use the NSW government's Water Assist tool, which can point you in the right direction for what approvals you may need."