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.
 
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