California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
Sweeney Dairy of Visalia is now facing an administrative civil liability penalty of $75,600 for failing to comply with the Dairy General Order. The order was first adopted by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) in 2007, and revised in 2013, requires dairies to handle waste in a specific way that preserves and protects water quality.
The Dairy General Order also requires that dairy owners submit an annual report detailing the impact of their dairy operations on water quality; James and Amelia Sweeney have failed to submit their 2015 annual report. Failure to submit any of the required reports is a violation of the order. The water board also adopted a Cease and Desist Order against Sweeney Dairy for failure to comply with requirements set forth in the Dairy General Order.
“Fully complying with all requirements of the Dairy General Order is needed to protect water quality. Annual reports are a vital component of the Dairy General Order because they inform the Board about manure handling activities at dairies, and nutrient management planning on dairy cropland,” said Clay Rodgers, assistant executive officer for the Central Valley Water Board. “It is critical that dairies adequately implement the requirements of the Dairy General Order including submitting annual reports that show they are taking the steps necessary to protect water quality. In assessing the penalty and adopting the Cease and Desist Order, our Board is recognizing a discharger’s responsibility to comply with orders issued by our Board, including submitting required documents.”
The Sweeney Dairy has been cited with a previous an administrative civil liability penalty of $34,650 for Failing to Provide an Annual Report to Assess the Impacts of Dairy Operations on Water Quality in June 2015. The CVRWQCB have that the Sweeneys failed to file annual reports since 2009; site inspection indicate that that Sweeneys have not implemented many of the other requirement of the Dairy General Order.
The Dairy General Order has more than 150 pages of guidelines and requirements covering numerous topics including pond specifications, production area specifications, land application specifications, groundwater limitations, provisions of the order, monitoring requirements as well as record-keeping requirements and reporting requirements. The Order also contains a number of requirements, including standards for manure and dairy wastewater storage and criteria for the application of manure and dairy wastewater to cropland. Requirements of the order specify the submission of annual reports, submission of a Waste Management Plan, implementation of a Nutrient Management Plan, and implementation of groundwater monitoring.
