California Water Board Gives Dairy Farms Free Pass to Pollute
Looking for a free pass to pollute drinking water in California? Well, if you're a large-scale dairy farm, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) seems content to look the other way while cow waste contaminates groundwater with high levels of dangerous nitrates.
A new report from Food & Water Watch reveals that CVRWQCB, the regional agency responsible for protecting groundwater in the Central Valley, has failed to effectively enforce water regulations established for dairies. Without the threat of enforced regulations or fines, factory farm dairies are polluting drinking water in the region with harmful levels of nitrates generated by enormous amounts of concentrated animal waste. Co-written by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the report calls upon California Governor Jerry Brown to nominate strong appointees to the Water Board.
Many of California's largest dairy farms are found in the Central Valley, where they produce enough fecal waste to rival a city of 21 million people. This staggering output of pollution is often left untreated and seeps into nearby waterways where it poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. According to the report, 60 percent of the roughly 1,500 dairies in the Central Valley have groundwater on their property that is contaminated with nitrates above the drinking water standard.
And while you may not plan on traveling to a dairy for a glass of water, those on-site cesspools can easily contaminate neighboring water sources. Eighty-five percent of the region's dairies are located within 300 feet of domestic wells, endangering the safety of countless residents in the area. Recent studies have shown that overexposure to nitrates from drinking water may lead to infant death, miscarriage, birth defects, diabetes, thyroid disease, and cancer.
The report reveals that the CVRWQCB never implemented existing groundwater regulations for dairies until 2007. And even those recently adopted rules are insufficient to stop existing pollution or protect against future incidents. They haven't even been effectively enforced.
The Water Board is assuredly under tremendous pressure from the dairy industry to refrain from enforcing regulations or issuing fines, but there's no excuse for placing the public's health in danger. According to Food & Water Watch:
Under California law, facilities that contribute to a violation of a water quality standard are subject to cleanup and abatement orders and can be fined. There have been no dairies fined for contributing to high nitrate levels in groundwater in the Valley and no cleanup and abatement orders issued.
Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico recently attempted to scrap a law that would reduce pollution from factory farms, but fortunately, thanks to local activists and Change.org readers, the law to regulate the pollution will be upheld. Governor Brown and the CVRWQCB would be wise to look to New Mexico to see that catering to the whims of the dairy industry at the cost of human health will not be tolerated.
Photo credit: Jelle S via Flickr
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