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U.S. EPA requires six Chino dairies to protect water from manure waste Joint effort with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board

Release Date: 09/29/2008
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, higuchi.dean@epa.gov

(09/29/08) LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ordering six Chino, Calif.-area dairies to comply with California Regional Water Quality Control Board permit requirements.

Through an administrative order, the EPA is ordering Brothers Three Dairy, Quality Dairy, Jorritsma and Anema Dairy, Martin Vander Laan Dairy, TLC Sonlight Dairy #2 and Goyenetche Dairy #2, to comply with permit requirements which require that dairies prevent runoff or discharge from their operations to nearby waterways, such as the Santa Ana River.

“The EPA is citing these six Chino dairies for failing to comply with California’s dairy permit, which is designed to protect streams, rivers and groundwater from discharges of manure waste and other pollutants,” said Alexis Strauss of the Water Division, EPA Region 9. “We expect these dairies to promptly correct their violations and improve their environmental performance, which we will oversee until satisfactorily resolved.”

In April 2008, EPA and California Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Santa Ana Region personnel inspected the Chino-area dairies. Among the violations discovered:

* failure to properly construct and maintain containment structures;
* failure to develop and/or implement proper Engineered Waste Management Plans;
* failure to conduct proper routine inspections of their facility;
* failure to properly monitor and report to the California Regional Water Board .

These joint inspections are an ongoing focus of EPA Region 9 and the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Santa Ana Region to ensure compliance with the dairy general permit, which helps to protect human health and the environment.

For more information on the NPDES CAFO program, please visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/index.cfm and click on the following links: NPDES Information, NPDES Permit Program Basics, and concentrated animal feeding operations.

For more information on the EPA Administrative Orders, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/region09/water/npdes/compliance.html

For more information on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, please visit: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb8/
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