Iowa cleans up

When environmental groups filed petitions last fall questioning the Iowas enforcement of water quality regulations, dairy producers took notice.

Heavy rains and flooding stressed lagoons, and some overflows occurred. And producers worried how those actions might ultimately affect the way

"Environmental groups who filed petitions saying the DNR hasn't enforced the (1972) Clean Water Act are very correct," says Gene Tinker, Iowa DNR Animal Feeding Operations Coordinator. "The EPA made that known in 2000. The agency told the DNR then to get on board. We've made progress even though we haven't corrected all the industry's water quality problems. It takes time to change."

Robert Burns, an Iowa State University ag engineer, believes Iowa producers and related ag industries have made progress in the last decade.

"Awareness of requirements is better not just for producers but for service providers too," Burns says. "Iowa's regulations for producers are more stringent than other states I've worked in. Heavy rains this past summer put some pressure on managers. But day in and day out, producers are doing a good job of meeting regulations."

Extension Program Specialist, Angela Rieck-Hinz says increased efforts to require producers to have a manure management plan have resulted in improving distribution practices and management of unexpected events such as heavy rains.

"I believe one of the problems with existing regulations is that small dairy owners often don't realize where they fit in. They don't classify themselves as an open feedlot or confinement feeding operation, so they don't believe the regulations apply to them. Semantics get in the way. Fining them or shutting them down doesn't resolve the problem. Helping them understand how to meet the regulations would do more for the dairy industry."

Tinker believes the DNR will more thoroughly scrutinize operations with annual or repeated violations. He disagrees with recommendations that large Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) obtain NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits to resolve the problem.

"If an operation has more than one spill, they may need to do some extra record keeping to determine why they are experiencing the problem," Tinker says. They should be required to fix the problem, not obtain a permit that allows them to discharge a percentage of nutrients directly to surface waters, he says.