Eight Iowa CAFOs under federal scrutiny for water pollution

Owners of eight beef feedlot operations located in northwest Iowa need to do more to protect rivers and streams, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is cracking down on violators.

EPA Region 7 has taken a series of civil enforcement actions against the feedlots for violations of the Clean Water Act as part of the agency’s continuing initiative that hopes to end harmful discharges of pollutants from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) into the area’s waterways.

According to Karl Brooks, regional administrator for the EPA, the agency has two important jobs: Enforcing the Clean Water Act and educating about the benefits of cleaner water.

“Responsible livestock producers understand and work with the agency to advance both goals,” Brooks said.

The enforcement actions with the Iowa feedlots involve administrative compliance orders issued to medium-sized CAFOs, which are operations that confine between 300 and 999 cattle and whose discharge is done by a man-made conveyance.

The EPA has documented significant water quality problems associated with medium-sized CAFOs, and is making compliance at such operations a priority. Runoff from such operations may contain pollutant pathogens and sediment, as well as nutrient nitrogen and phosphorous — all of which can harm aquatic life and impact water quality, according to EPA officials.

Six of the eight cited Iowa CAFOs discharge runoff into waters that have been officially identified by the state as being impaired by pollutants typically associated with animal feeding operations.

As a result of the civil enforcement actions, the following beef feedlot operations must must apply for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and complete wastewater controls at his facilities by Oct.  31, 2011, in order to end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into various Iowa waterways:

• Todd Bartman, doing business as Bartman Farms, of Rock Valley, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of the Rock River in Sioux County.
• Randy Kats, doing business as Randy Kats Feedlot, of Rock Valley, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of the Rock River in Sioux County.
• Tracy Onken, doing business as Tracy Onken Feedlot, of Carroll, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of Storm Creek in Carroll County.
• SFI Inc., of Nemaha, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into the Raccoon River in Sac County.
• Vernon Van Beek and Jason Dorhaut, doing business as Lone Tree Feedlot, of Inwood, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of Dry Run Creek in Lyon County.
• Terry Van Wyhe, doing business as Van Wyhe Feedlot, of Ireton, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of Six Mile Creek in Sioux County, Iowa.
• Nathan Vohs, doing business as Nathan Vohs Feedlot, of Washta, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of Four Mile Creek in Cherokee County.
• Keith Zylstra, doing business as Zylstra Feedlot, of Ashton, must end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into a tributary of Otter Creek in Osceola County.

Tracy Onken Feedlot and Lone Tree Feedlot are the two operations that do not discharge runoff into waterways already identified as impaired by the state.