EPA Awards $443,740 Clean Water Grant for Dairies

September 13, 1999

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $443,740 grant to a California program that trains dairy operators to comply with clean water laws and avoid waterway pollution with cow manure.

Water pollution from dairy waste is considered a serious problem in California. The state's 2,400 dairies average 550 cows each. A single cow produces 22 tons of waste per year. That adds up to nearly 30 million tons of dairy waste each year that can be applied safely to crops as fertilizer. But dairies must manage the waste carefully to keep it from fouling waterways.

The agreement makes EPA part of the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, a joint effort of state and federal agencies, the dairy industry and the University of California-Davis to address environmental concerns, food safety and animal health issues. The first component of the program, announced by the dairy industry and California Department of Food and Agriculture last October, is an environmental stewardship plan designed to help producers comply with federal, state and local water quality, manure and nutrient management requirements.

EPA's grant to the state Water Resources Control Board will be used to fund a short course on dairy waste management developed by Deanne Meyer of the UC-Davis Cooperative Extension Service. The course consists of three two-hour sessions in which dairy operators learn ways to comply with environmental regulations, including requirements that include:

- Not allowing animals to enter surface waters such as streams and ditches in confined areas of dairies;

- Containing waste water and contaminated rainfall, even during rain storms;

- Protecting waste storage ponds form inundation or washout;

- Constructing waste ponds so that potential contamination of ground water is minimized;

- Applying manure or waste water to crop lands in ways that prevent surface runoff and minimize percolation to ground water.