Agricultural Runoff, 2006 Water Quality Report to Congress

Approximately 30,000 active livestock operations exist in Wisconsin. Manure from livestock operations contains organic materials, nitrogen, phosphorus and other water pollutants. Through Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permits issued under ch. 283, Wis. Stats., and ch. NR 243, Wis. Adm. Code, the WDNR has helped to avoid many water quality impacts from larger-scale livestock operations. In addition, the WDNR has used the Notice of Discharge (NOD) program under ch. NR 243, Wis. Adm. Code, and the agricultural performance standards and prohibitions promulgated in ch. NR 151, Wis. Adm. Code, in October 2002 to address water quality impacts from many smaller-scale livestock operations in the state.

WPDES Permits

Water quality concerns associated with livestock operations with 1,000 animal units or more (also referred to as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs) are addressed through the WPDES permit program. One thousand animal units are approximately equal to 700 milking cows, 1,000 beef cattle, 2,500 swine or 55,000 turkeys. These operations are required to obtain a WPDES permit that addresses storage, runoff, and land application of manure and other process wastewaters from these operations. There are about 150 CAFOs permitted under the WPDES program. (NOTE: One permit covers approximately 50 poultry operations owned or operated by the same company.) The WDNR has experienced a significant increase in the number of operations applying for permits in recent years, especially in the dairy sector. The WPDES permit program meets or exceeds federal NPDES requirements for livestock operations with 1,000 animal units or more, particularly in the areas of addressing groundwater quality impacts. U.S. EPA recently revised its regulations for CAFOs, and Wisconsin is in the process of modifying ch. NR 243, Wis. Adm. Code, to reflect changes at the federal level. To this end, the Department formed an advisory committee to provide input on revisions to ch. NR 243 which met from September of 2003 to February of 2005. Public hearings and informational sessions were held on the proposed revisions to NR 243 in August and September of 2005. The Department is currently reviewing and responding to comments and determining the need for changes to the proposed revised code. Modifications to ch. NR 243 are expected to be complete by the summer or fall of 2006.

Addressing Water Quality Impacts from Operations with Fewer than 1,000 AUs

The WDNR regulates livestock operations with fewer than 1,000 animals units that have discharges that significantly affect water quality through the NOD Program. In addition, under ch. NR 243, operations with 301 to 999 animal units that have discharges that meet the federal definition of a "point source" are also required to apply for a WPDES permit. With the promulgation of agricultural performance standards and prohibitions under ch. NR 151, the WDNR has an additional tool to address impacts from smaller-scale livestock operations as well as impacts from crop production. The statutory authority under ch. 281, Wis. Stats., and the creation of ch. NR 151 also provide local governments (e.g., towns and counties) the authority to enforce the agricultural performance standards and prohibitions.

Notice of Discharge

Notices of Discharge (NODs) may be issued to smaller-scale livestock operations if an on-site investigation reveals the presence of a discharge to waters of the state. Technical assistance to control the discharge is typically available through the county Land Conservation Departments (LCDs) and cost-share financial assistance can be obtained through local, state and federal cost-share programs. If the water quality impact is not the result of a discharge that meets the federal definition of point source, cost sharing must be provided to cover at least 70% of eligible costs. Throughout the process of addressing impacts identified in an NOD, the WDNR may conduct follow-up investigations to monitor compliance. A livestock operator who fails to implement necessary corrective measures within a specified timeframe is subject to a loss of cost-share funding and may be required to obtain a WPDES permit from the WDNR. Historically, the NOD program has been based on citizen complaints against livestock operations. The WDNR has changed to a targeted approach, investigating impacts from livestock in areas draining to impaired waters (federal 303(d) listed waters) and high quality waters (Wisconsin Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters) instead of relying solely on citizen complaints.

Since 1984, approximately 590 NODs have been issued. During this time, over $6.4 million in cost sharing, primarily from the state's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), has been provided to address the problems identified in the NOD. In addition, over $530,000 in technical assistance have been provided to smaller animal feeding operations to correct deficiencies identified in NODs. For all NODs where cost sharing was provided, the average grant amount was approximately $20,000 with a range of $144 to $179,121. About 55 percent of the livestock operations that received NODs from the WDNR received cost-share grants. Most livestock operations that received funding corrected their problem. About nine percent of the livestock operators failed to take required actions under the NOD and have been issued WPDES permits or have a WDNR enforcement action pending.

The Department did not issue any NODs in 2004 or 2005. However, it did issue a number of notices of intent (NOIs) to issue an NOD that provided potential NOD sites a better chance to receive cost sharing from the Department's competitive Targeted Runoff Management (TRM) Grant Program. The TRM Grant Program provided approximately $344,100 in the 2004 and 2005 grant cycles to address NODs and noncompliance with Agricultural Performance Standards under ch. NR 151, Wis. Adm. Code.

Runoff Events

Contamination from manure runoff events is an ongoing concern, and one that the Department is working to address. The winter/spring of 2004-2005 brought weather patterns of freezing followed by a quick thaw and rain. This set the stage for disaster when liquid manure was spread on frozen ground which then turned into a torrent of snowmelt and runoff. Newspapers were full of accounts of fish kills and well contaminations over and above the level seen in the past. During the one-year time span of July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, 52 manure runoff events were documented by the Department, and it is expected that many more undocumented events also occurred. Of these 52 events, 17% caused fish kills, and 20% contaminated private drinking water wells. Most of the incidents happened in the months of February and March 2005, when 61% of the 52 events occurred.
Although all regions of the state experienced some runoff events, most occurred in the northeast and the south central regions. The most serious well contaminations took place in the northeast in areas with karst topography.

Overwhelmingly, the most frequent cause of the runoff events was land spreading of manure (74%). The next highest reason was storage overtopping at just 10%. Most of the manure (60%) was in liquid form while 25% was solid. The remainder was unspecified. In 84% of the incidents, the land was frozen and/or snow-covered.
The WDNR spent a great deal of resources documenting these events and mitigating their impact whenever possible. Some of the impacts were associated with WPDES permitted operations while many of the events were associated with operations with fewer than 1,000 animal units. In addition to the programs outlined below, the WDNR has used other enforcement authority to address these events (e.g., spills law, citation authority). The result of these efforts ranged from the payment of a fine to cost-recovery for killed fish to referral to the state's Department of Justice for prosecution and payment of forfeitures.

Other chronic effects, such as algae blooms and decreased fisheries health over the long term, are also common. These effects on the health of people and the environment can be serious. To address this need, the Department is in the process of revising its rule, ch. NR 243, that regulates the management and landspreading of manure from the 150 largest farms in the state. Following the measures proposed in the revised rules would help to reduce impacts associated with landspreading manure and process wastewater, including impacts associated with frozen and snow-covered ground conditions. As part of the Department's ongoing efforts to promote proper manure management, many of the proposed revisions to ch. NR 243 are intended to address impacts from manure applied on frozen or snow-covered ground.

In response to the numerous manure spills, a "Manure Management Task Force" was convened, consisting of representatives from local government, the environmental community and livestock producers. The Department participated in the state's Manure Management Task Force from July 2005 to January 2006 to devise recommendations aimed at reducing manure-related impacts. These recommendations were delivered to the Secretaries of DNR and DATCP in March, 2006, two of which have been implemented to date. The key preliminary recommendations to come out of the task force were:

Increase use of winter spreading plans, hauling procedures and emergency response plans
Improve data collection on manure runoff events
Improve research efforts through better coordination of priorities
Develop manure spreading advisory or notification system
Increase cost sharing for nutrient management plans
Improve emergency response with focus on farmer planning
License or certify manure haulers
Well compensation for manure contamination
Pilot test limited enforcement program

As of March 2006, two of the recommendations have already been enacted. An emergency notification regarding risky weather patterns for manure spreading was put out to the media in March as conditions were quickly changing from frozen to rain. The state legislature approved compensation for wells contaminated from livestock causes.

Last Revised: Tuesday August 01 2006