Kinnard Farms, one in every of Wisconsin’s largest dairy producers, has filed a lawsuit to problem necessities that the operation check water high quality close to fields the place manure has been unfold. The lawsuit, filed on Earth Day towards the Division of Pure Sources (DNR), comes weeks after the DNR introduced that Kinnard Farms could be required to observe groundwater.

The transfer represents the newest chapter within the ongoing battle over tips on how to handle groundwater contamination within the state. Nitrate contamination from the waste of cattle is Wisconsin’s commonest groundwater contaminant. A report in February by the Environmental Working Group and Midwest Environmental Advocates discovered that in 4 Wisconsin counties, manure was utilized greater than 50% above the speed really helpful by College of Wisconsin researchers to attenuate air pollution. Kinnard Farms, and Kewaunee County the place it’s positioned, was cited within the report.

The Kinnard Farms lawsuit got here after the DNR revised the dairy operations’ Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System allow to require the water high quality assessments. The division added the requirement to the allow after a Clear Wisconsin lawsuit and a Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom ruling that the DNR has the authority to require monitoring of close by wells to make sure that air pollution requirements are being adopted.

“Kinnard is opposing the very fundamental step of checking to see if manure runoff is impacting the water provide,” stated Clear Wisconsin employees lawyer Evan Feinauer. “There isn’t any doubt Kewaunee households are going through critical water contamination points and have been for years.”

Underneath federal and state requirements, nitrate ranges shouldn’t exceed 10 components per million in ingesting water. No infants or pregnant girls ought to eat water that exceeds that stage, in keeping with the requirements. Infants undergo acute dangers from nitrate contamination, together with so-called “blue child syndrome,” and different illnesses. Some analysis means that nitrate-contaminated water could also be linked to greater dangers of thyroid problems, diabetes, and sure cancers. An evaluation completed by the Environmental Working Group and Clear Wisconsin discovered that direct medical prices in Wisconsin linked to nitrate-contaminated ingesting water ranged from $23 million to $80 million per 12 months.

“That is about utilizing science to know what’s taking place to our water assets and information us to efficient options that shield public well being,” stated Feinauer. “Groundwater monitoring can assist us establish potential issues that result in contamination and likewise validate whether or not the vital dialog efforts which might be already underway are making an impression.”

Feinauer highlighted that the necessities had been a hard-fought victory received within the Supreme Courtroom. “After years of litigation and a Supreme Courtroom ruling affirming DNR’s duty to make use of these instruments to make sure clear ingesting water, it’s regarding to see that the notion of monitoring water high quality to guard public well being is but once more being challenged,” he stated.

New requirements for manure spreading had been additionally issued by the Division of Agriculture, Commerce, and Shopper Safety in August 2021. Two months earlier, in June, a manure spill at a Lincoln County dairy farm  leaked right into a creek,  leading to a fish kill.

Kinnard Farms presently homes greater than 8,000 animals and has argued towards setting a cap on that quantity. Feinauer underscored the farm’s ambitions to proceed to develop.

“In some unspecified time in the future, there may be simply no extra land on which such huge quantities of manure might be safely saved or unfold,” Feinauer famous. “The Supreme Courtroom understood this when it agreed that DNR has the authority to position limits on the dimensions of those farms to guard water high quality.”

The continuing authorized battle over the DNR’s authority may additionally have an effect on different farming operations. Presently, the DNR is proposing water monitoring necessities in draft permits for Gordonale Farms in Portage County, the place the village of Nelsonville has been affected by water high quality points. In 2018, the Division of Well being Companies examined 60 non-public wells in Nelsonville, 28 of which exceeded groundwater nitrate requirements.

Feinauer’s phrases echoed the findings of the report by the Environmental Working Group and Midwest Environmental Advocates. “In a number of areas, there’s not sufficient agricultural land to securely and economically get rid of the manure that animal feeding operations generate,” the report states. It provides that “an estimated two-thirds of manure vitamins within the counties are produced by unpermitted operations, for which the Wisconsin DNR has little to no info relating to location, measurement, how a lot manure they produce, or the place it’s unfold.”

Personal wells and groundwater shops aren’t the one challenge. Greater than 1,500 miles of streams, rivers, and 33 lakes in Wisconsin throughout 9 counties are thought of “impaired” by the DNR, largely because of agriculture-related air pollution and runoff, of which manure is a key supply. Giant farming operations housing hundreds of animals are more and more accountable, in keeping with environmental advocates. About 3% of Wisconsin’s farms produce round 40% of the state’s milk.

Kinnard Farms defended itself in an announcement to Wisconsin Examiner that didn’t handle the corporate’s lawsuit, nor the rationale for its submitting.

“The Kinnard Farms household stays dedicated to regenerative agriculture and sustainability. On-farm practices similar to planting cowl crops, restricted soil tillage (generally known as no-till), sand and water recycling and extra exhibit our dedication to defending groundwater in our neighborhood. We proceed to put money into cutting-edge innovation to guard our surroundings.”

Feinauer argues that authorized motion shouldn’t be obligatory to make sure that water high quality shall be protected in rural communities. “We all know everybody needs the identical finish consequence,  secure ingesting water and profitable farms,” he stated. “Clear Wisconsin will proceed to struggle for clear ingesting water for all residents of Wisconsin, and for smart protections towards groundwater contamination.”