Water Regulations Could be Flowing Your Way

New, comprehensive water quality regulations are making it more complex and challenging for California’s dairies. Adopted by the regional water board, the regulations’ impact could trickle across the country.
Dairy producers in California’s Central Valley began monitoring, inspecting and reporting all wastewater and manure applications in October 2007. The regulations include inspecting storage areas during the wet season and land application areas daily, monitoring all well water, tracking wastewater and manure and filing reports on all the activities.

Stretching from Redding in the north to Fresno in the south, the Central Valley is home to 1,600 dairy producers, more than two-thirds of California’s 2,200 dairies.

DFA's Francis Pacheco doesn’t expect a rollout of water quality regulations at this level nationwide, but there could be fallout. 

“People are aware that what happens in California often is an indicator of things to occur nationally,” says the Western Area vice president of membership and public relations. “I think producers nationally should be aware of the degree of monitoring and regulations being reached in dairy states such as California.”

Central Valley dairy producers were under a conditional waiver. In May the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted the waste discharge requirements. If the dairy producers don’t comply, the fines could be up to a $1,000 a day.

Compliance costs will depend on how much consulting is required. “The cost of complying could be in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 a year,” Pacheco says.  For producers who take the soil samples, monitor the wastewater themselves, the cost could be $10,000 annually.

DFA member Rien Doornenbal testified about manure applications on leased land at the Central Valley Water Quality Board meeting in May. “I’m taking a bite at a time. We’re collecting water samples today,” reports Doornenbal from his cell phone at the Escalon, California, dairy he and his wife, Lieske, operate. 

In October, manure discharges and wastewater storm water monitoring began. By November 3, water samples from each domestic and agricultural well and any tile drain system were to have been sent to certified water testing laboratories. An Existing Conditions Report is due December 31, 2007.

DFA, along with the Community Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship (CARES), is assisting producers with understanding the new requirements. DFA is one of the founding members of CARES, a coalition of dairy industry groups formed to promote economic and environmental sustainability.

“We have several years to get into total compliance,” Doornenbal says. “I’m trying to maintain an optimistic attitude. I think it will be doable, but time will tell.”