It was a long and interesting week of hearings as Friends of the Central Sands pursued three legal cases against the DNR in the permitting and management of the Richfield CAFO; the high capacity wells, nutrient management plan, and the plans and specifications of the site itself. It would have been fascinating to watch if only there wasn’t so much at stake. There were some very interesting things that came out: The DNR’s “Zero Discharge Permit” isn’t at it seems … The WPDES permit itself does not limit the volume of discharge to groundwater, however, applicable regulations allow for up to 500 gallons of waste per acre per day of “exfiltration” from the three acres of manure storage lagoons. This means that the CAFO can lawfully discharge up to 547,500 gallons per year into our ground water. Make you feel better? Alternative Concentration Limit … The safe drinking water standard for Nitrates is set at 10 mg/l. Infants who drink nitrate-contaminated water are at risk for “Blue Baby Syndrome”. According to the DNR many of the area wells already exceed this safe drinking water standard. But also according to the DNR, it wouldn’t be fair to the operator if the water level already is at or exceeds this limit so they will set a new Alternative Concentration Limit (ACL) based on the already-polluted “background” concentration. As in the case of the Rosendale CAFO this ACL has now been set at 18 mg / l. And, according to the permit itself, the public will not be notified if they wish to set a new ACL. Does this make you feel better? Why are we doing this? Invest just 6 minutes of your time and watch this short documentary that we released a few short weeks ago to see the problem we face with our water. It is a fascinating look at this complex issue. Several thousand people have already watched it on YouTube and our website. Please - Watch, Share and Support! youtube/watch?v=F-tGS6JQkr4 For those who thought that the DNR was looking out for our best interest I would suggest that you attend the hearings in August (scheduled for August 19-23). I am sure that many more surprises await. There is some good news in all of this. The judge was very attentive and engaged in the process. He was able to hear our concerns about how the regulations (or the way they are interpreted) are not protecting our waters. We heard many of our expert witnesses disagree with the findings of the DNR about the impacts of the wells and the threats they pose to our lakes and streams. Information was presented about how Pleasant Lake is already negatively impacted along with nearby streams, Chaffee Creek in particular. Overall it felt very good to finally have our story told. It will make an impact! -We need YOUR help to continue this important and expensive fight- You can and do make a difference in protecting our quality of life and environment. Please, pitch in and help us protect our water resources! Consider a tax deductible donation today or even a monthly gift to keep our efforts going. Donate here: friendsofcs.org Or send a check to: Friends of the Central Sands PO Box 56 Coloma, WI 54930
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:57:54 +0000
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