FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 2, 2000
00-029
CONTACT:Mary Getchell, Public Information Manager, (360) 407-6157; pager, (360) 534-8590
Phil KauzLoric, Dairy Program Coordinator, (360) 407-6413
OLYMPIA - This week, the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) reissued the wastewater-discharge general permit for dairy farms.
Proper management of dairy waste was once one of the most controversial water quality issues in Washington state, but it is now becoming a standard operation at more dairy farms around the state.
The general permit directs dairy farms to take specific steps to keep manure and contaminated runoff out of lakes, rivers and ground water.
Under the federal Clean Water Act, Ecology must renew and reissue wastewater discharge permits every five years. Ecology reissued the dairy general permit with very few changes compared to the first dairy permit the agency issued in 1994. The primary change was to make the permit consistent with the federal Clean Water Act regulations and 1998 state law to manage dairy waste.
At the end of 1999, the agency held four public hearings around the state to get comments on the permit. Approximately 50 people attended the hearings and 12 people commented.
"Issuing the dairy permit this year was very different from the first time we issued it in the early 1990s, when hundreds of people crowded workshops and hearings to criticize and question the permit," said Phil KauzLoric, Ecology's dairy program coordinator.
Since then, KauzLoric explained Ecology worked with the dairy industry, state legislature and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and implement a program that works for farmers and protects the environment.
Manure and contaminated runoff from dairies can cause significant water quality pollution and harm public health, water quality, shellfish and salmon if it is not properly managed. Any dairy that discharges waste to a lake, river, marine or ground water needs a permit.
"Dairies can farm in an environmentally-friendly way," sad Fred Colvin, business manager for Doelman Dairy Farm in Thurston and Grays Harbor counties. "I want dairy operators to know that having an Ecology inspector tell you that you need a permit is not the end of the world."
Three of the Doelman dairy farms have dairy waste permits.
Nearly 80 of the state's more than 730 dairies operate with dairy waste permits. The permit allows farms to discharge untreated manure into creeks and streams only under extreme weather conditions, and it directs farms to develop and implement management plans to prevent and stop discharges at other times.
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