Posted January 31, 2014
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA)
cited a Washington dairy and fined it $6,000 for a manure spill that affected
nearby water in violation of the state’s Water Pollution Control Act, according
to an AgWeb article available here.
In October, 2013, Whatcom County Public Works officials
notified WSDA of a possible manure spill into California Creek and confirmed
that a discharge of manure had occurred a day earlier. An analysis of the creek found elevated fecal
coliform bacteria that “exceeded standards as far as five miles downstream from
the manure spill.” An inspector also
noted “about 30 dead fish, some as far as 1.7 miles downstream from the spill.” In response, Whatcom County closed the beach
at California Creek and the state Department of Health close commercial
shellfish harvesting in an affected harbor.
“There are occasional discharges of manure, but
something of this size is pretty uncommon,” said Hector Castro, director of communications
for the department, according to Capital Press here.
The dairy’s failure to quickly alert the department
increased the penalty. Castro said that
the delay created the possibility of a public health issue if anyone had
consumed the shellfish.
For more information on water law, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
