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EPA Issues First-of-its-Kind Discharge Permit to Dairy Farmer in Westport

Release Date: 07/30/1999
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office today proposed a discharge permit that will require a large dairy farmer in Westport to eliminate manure and other pollutant discharges into Snell Creek and the Westport River.

The draft permit, the first of its kind to be issued in New England for a farming operation, was issued to Pimental Farm, a 450-cow dairy operation that has been pinpointed for contributing to widespread water pollution problems in both the creek and the river.

The farm generates about 11,000 tons of manure each year, of which less than half is being collected. Significant amounts of the manure not being collected are eventually discharged into the creek and river, primarily after wet weather events.

The 17-page permit requires the farm owner to take a series of actions within 120 days of the permit's issuance to stem the flow of pollution from the 30-acre farm. Among those actions is the construction of a manure pit for collecting and disposing of cow manure generated on the property and installation of vegetative buffers around the farm's various open lots where the cows reside most of the time.

The draft permit also requires the farm to develop a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan within 120 days of the permit's issuance and to implement that plan within another 30 days. Key components of the plan include a manure and wastewater handling and storage strategy and comprehensive record keeping to indicate how much manure was produced and how it was handled. The permit also includes monitoring and discharge notification requirements.

Once implemented, the permit would result in no manure and wastewater discharges into the creek and river - the only exception being in the event of a major 25-year, 24-hour rainfall incident that would cause runoff.

The draft permit, issued jointly by EPA and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

"This is a very tough permit that tackles a serious pollution problem on the Westport River," said John P. DeVillars, EPA's New England Administrator. "EPA will be very aggressive in the coming months to ensure that the farm owner complies with the permit."

"This is a great corner of the Commonwealth, in part because we have been able to maintain an agricultural economy," DeVillars added. "This effort helps ensure that our farms will be compatible with river quality and other environmental goals."

"The Department of Food and Agriculture strongly supports the actions of the EPA," said Jay Healy, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. "It's our belief that the farmer, Mr. Pimental, intends to do the right thing by the environment by meeting the requirements of this permit. If the permit isn't met, the sword of Damocles is hanging over his head."

"I feel on behalf of the watershed alliance that the permit has been long in coming and I am pleased to see action finally being taken," said Gay Gillespie, executive director of the Westport River Watershed Alliance. "Three years of collaborative discussion with local, state and federal officials to remedy this problem have at times been frustrating. This permit is the first positive indication that something is going to happen to improve water quality in our river."

Today's draft permit was issued under EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which regulates the discharge of pollutants from "point sources" to waters of the United States. Typically, EPA issues NPDES permits for point sources such as manufacturing facilities or wastewater treatment plants.

"Pimental Farm is a very unusual situation," DeVillars said. "Given the inadequate farm management, the farm's proximity to the creek and the river and the proven impacts the discharges are having on water quality, EPA has no choice but to regulate this operation just as it would regulate a factory or a sewage plant discharging into a water body."

Following a rain event in January of this year, water samples collected by EPA in the creek near the farm showed fecal coliform levels as high as 1.6 million organisms per 100 milliliters of water - 8,000 times higher than the 200 organisms per 100 milliliter standard that Snell Creek is required to meet as a Class B water body. The uses of Class B water bodies include fishing and swimming.

Water sampling data collected from the Westport River and its tributaries by the Westport River Watershed Alliance (WRWA) shows similar problems. The seven years of data, collected weekly from 1991 to 1997, indicate that on average the creek increases in fecal coliform counts by 20 times (from 850 to 16,874 organisms) as it flows past the farm. The average year-round increase in 1997 was even more dramatic, increasing by 70 times (from 254 to 17,985 organisms) as the creek passes the farm. The monitoring program conducted by WRWA included combined dry and wet weather sampling.