Central Valley Dairy
Factory
California’s Central Valley is a powerhouse
of agricultural production, supplying a famed abundance of fruits, vegetables
and dairy. More than six million acres in the Central Valley are devoted
to irrigated agriculture, producing $13 billion worth of food annually.
Farms there thrive on water supplied by a single, vast estuarine system,
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The delta’s watershed,
which drains more than 40 percent of California’s landmass and
empties into San Francisco Bay, provides drinking water to more than
22 million people. After decades of heavy fertilizer application, as
well as the proliferation of high-density animal factories, agricultural
pollution is directly threatening California’s drinking water,
devastating aquatic habitat and contributing to the dramatic collapse
of fisheries.
The shift to industrial agriculture in the Central Valley has resulted
in fewer farms, more cows, and much more wet manure and polluted runoff.
Federal law requires factory farms to prevent runoff of manure and contaminated
rainwater. Factory farms must implement basic controls such as keeping
stormwater away from the areas where cows are crowded together. Further,
farms must ensure that manure used as fertilizer is applied slowly so
nutrients can be absorbed by the plants, without running off into creeks
or soaking quickly into groundwater. Although federal law required pollution
control plans for these animal factories, California regulators have
refused to enforce the law.
Baykeeper is vigilant in enforcing the law to protect the watershed from
industrial dairy factories in the Central Valley. With the help of Waterkeeper
Alliance, Baykeeper launched a Central Valley Factory Farm campaign in
June 2006 by announcing lawsuits against three polluting dairies in the
Central Valley. These suits succeeded in forcing these industrial dairies
to obtain Clean Water Act permits and increased the pressure on the state
to implement federal environmental law. More recently, Baykeeper has
challenged the state’s entire illegal factory farm program. Meanwhile,
we’re working to preserve state rules that afford at least minimal
protection for groundwater, the source of drinking water for many rural
residents. With sustained pressure, we believe we can clean up the delta
while protecting and preserving family farms. w
Stream Team
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Stream Team has identified
chronic nutrient and algae problems in several watersheds that feed California’s
Santa Barbara Channel. In the Goleta Slough watershed, some local creeks
have nitrate concentrations more than double public health standards. Agriculture
is the chief culprit. Channelkeeper supported a new regulatory program
that requires farmers on California’s Central Coast to develop water
quality management plans to reduce nutrient pollution from irrigated fields.
Baykeeper