Understanding Water Quality Regulations

As the poultry industry grows, so does concern for water quality, conservation, and environmental management. Growers have individual and civic reasons for caring: they are responsible with other human beings for the earth’s environment, and they realize that they, their families and neighbors, and those who live in connecting watersheds, distant cities, even other countries — ultimately breathe the same air and drink the same water. 

Pollution is intolerable whether it occurs on privately owned land and water, or travels many miles downstream or over mountains to other destinations. The arithmetic is simple: good environmental stewardship reduces the cost of water pollution, saves natural resources, and makes good neighbors.

Federal and State Statutes

Federal water quality laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (i.e., Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System [NPDES] Permits) and the laws of each state make it illegal to discharge wastes of any kind to waters of the United States. That is, poultry waste cannot be collected, stored, or applied anywhere or in any manner that would likely result in water pollution.

Because regulations differ and each state has its own enforcement procedures, poultry growers are well-advised to check with state and local agencies before production begins or systems change. Often the state’s requirements are more stringent than federal requirements; however, growers in coastal zones may be subject to additional federal statutes as a result of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990. Industry organizations, agricultural research institutions, and private and government agencies can help growers know, understand, and comply with the regulations in their area. 

Point and Nonpoint Source Pollution

For management purposes, water pollution sources are divided into two groups or types. Point source pollution comes from a discrete man-made conveyance, such as a pipe, lagoon, ditch, or storage tank. Nonpoint sources of pollution are dispersed, harder to pinpoint, and cumulative. They include land uses or human activities that are potentially significant because they are common and widespread. Agriculture, mining, forestry, highway and other construction, septic tank, fieldline, and other waste disposal systems, and urban runoff are examples of potential nonpoint source pollution. 

Some activities are regulated as point and nonpoint sources of pollution. For example, industrial or municipal utilities may operate treatment plants, which are point sources of pollution, but they may also be responsible to prevent further contamination from or of stormwater runoff, a nonpoint source of water pollution. Similarly, some livestock facilities may be regulated as point sources when they are collecting, storing, or conveying facility wastewater and runoff; but once the manure or litter has been applied to the land, it is managed as a nonpoint source. Poultry growers must know how to manage point and nonpoint sources. 

General Guidelines

Since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), including some poultry farms with liquid manure systems, have been regulated as point sources of pollution. Federal law which the states administer through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program forbids point source discharges, that is, the discharge of any pollutant or contaminant to “waters of the United States.” 

Thus, CAFOs, like other point sources, must obtain an operating permit which prohibits discharge except from lagoons during storm events greater than 24-hour, 25-year storms. The permit also specifies best management practices to protect surface water, including diverting off-site drainage around the facilities and designing appropriate storage facilities for manure and process-generated wastewater. Adequate runoff storage must be included in the design; lagoons or holding ponds must be sized to withstand a 25-year, 24-hour-duration storm. 

Nonpoint Source Prevention Practices

The extent of nonpoint sources has been more fully realized in the last decade, but they are usually assessed locally on a stream-by-stream basis and controlled by conservation or “best management practices” (BMPs). BMPs are routine activities that can be incorporated in animal and crop farming to conserve natural resources and protect air, soil, and water quality. They are structures or activities that reduce the potentially harmful effects of agricultural production. 

State and Local Guidelines

Most states now require (1) permits for the operation and construction of confined animal facilities whether current or planned, if the facility uses a liquid waste management system; and (2) that all livestock farmers plan their waste management and disposal system, especially as it concerns land applications. Whether these plans are written, kept on file, or simply in evidence on site, may depend on other circumstances. 

The conditions pertaining to permits are not uniform across the states, but they usually provide specific guidance for operations at, under, or exceeding a certain size; establish setback distances for grower houses, lagoons, and waste management structures (to protect water and air quality and to limit any nuisances that might impinge on nearby homes or public buildings, such as schools and churches); buffer zones; and design specifications for new construction. 

Land application requirements generally establish when and where applications can be permitted; for example, only at approved rates, and with nutrient management planning; not on frozen ground or when rain is expected on slopes greater than 15 percent, or on setbacks from public buildings and property lines.

Getting Help

A system of standard operating procedures or practices developed in accord with, or as part of, a resource management plan, or animal waste management system recommended by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will generally meet state and local requirements. The NRCS offers technical assistance to growers and often works with local soil and water conservation districts and state and local agencies to help farmers write suitable plans. The integrated poultry company should also be consulted about nutrient issues. 

Such guidance augments the grower’s own engineering and technical resources and makes it easier to adapt national conservation practices to regional conditions. It may also be possible that growers are eligible for cost-sharing. The USDA has used cost-share programs to encourage conservation over many years. Similar programs may now exist or are being developed. 

The NRCS guidelines can be found in the Agricultural Waste Management Field Handbook (AWMFH) or Field Office Technical Guides (FOTG) which are reviewed and supplemented as needed. Supplements to the National Handbook and specifications prepared by the states are reviewed in NRCS field offices to ensure the consistency of new and emerging technologies and rules. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Cooperative Extension Service have also prepared guidance documents applying conservation practices. 

Changing Attitudes

In the United States, regulations to control nonpoint source pollution are not the only driving force behind changing attitudes. Voluntary pro- grams, public education, and financial incentives are more in tune with traditional values. Growers want to protect the environment, increase their efficiency, and enjoy a good public image. 

Animal waste management practices can in- crease their return on investment and protect natural resources, especially if one’s objectives are as clear as this simple waste management formula: 

• prevent the generation of wastes where possible; 
• recycle wastes that cannot be prevented;
• pretreat wastes to eliminate possible contaminants; and
• dispose of unusable wastes properly as a last resort.

Management commitment and awareness, scientific research and common sense, and in some cases, new installations and equipment are needed to protect the availability and quantity of our natural resources. The scope of the problem is global, national, and industrywide; cooperation among agencies, associations, and individuals speeds the development of technology and its transfer and creates a participatory environment that encourages the search for solutions and fosters attitude changes.

Compliance Issues

Water quality legislation has teeth. Section 309 of the Clean Water Act establishes criminal penalties for failure to comply with the regulations. The threat of prosecution can be a first step in forcing

compliance; the charges can range from minor infringements or negligent actions (lightly punished) to more serious charges of conscious violations and knowing endangerment. Knowing and willful endangerment and outright falsification are the most serious charges. 

In short, point source wastewaters that leave a poultry house or plant must comply with the national effluent levels. A pretreatment program may be necessary. Some poultry operations have discovered that running their own pretreatment plants, though expensive, can be more efficient than other methods of compliance. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now uses audits to determine how and why publicly-owned treatment works are not in compliance. Recent regulations (in 40 C.F.R. Part 403) concern pretreatment: 

• Pollutants that would interfere with the operation of the publicly owned treatment works or cause fire or explosive hazards are not permitted. 
• No pH levels lower than 5.0 are allowed.
• Solid or viscous pollutants are monitored.
• High levels of biological oxygen demanding substances (BOD) are regulated as are oils, grease, and toxic gases.

The poultry industry should, therefore, take an active part in pretreatment programs. 

Federal regulations are administered in most cases by the states, whose regulations and permitting requirements vary and may be more stringent than national regulations. Please consult local sources of information, including industry associations, state departments of environmental protection, and public health, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Cooperative State Research, Extension, and Education Service offices, to ensure that your waste management activities comply with all regulations and ordinances.

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