Three Michigan dairy farms dump waste in water, EPA says

I am sure if one see the problem of contaminations, one must understand that is not due to the over night, it is always due to the acunulated effect for generation.

The escalations of pollutions & contaminations on earth is mainly due to the industrializations. As well as the demand for the beef ..consumptions.

All waste that contaminate our environment must be check constantly. Especially for the drinking water standard must be maintain at high standard for our safety & great health.

Three Michigan dairy farms dump waste in water, EPA says
December 28, 2004, 12:02 AM

ELKTON, Mich. (AP) -- Three Michigan dairy farms, two in Huron County near the tip of the Thumb, have been cited by the Environmental Protection Agency on accusations of violating federal water quality laws by dumping animal waste in waterways.

The EPA says it found the violations during November inspections.

Zwemmer Dairy, with 2,400 cattle in Elkton, and TeVoortwis Dairy, with 1,250 cattle in Bad Axe, were cited in Huron County, EPA spokeswoman Phillippa Cannon told the Huron Daily Tribune of Bad Axe for a story Monday.

"The dairy operations, both classified as concentrated animal feeding operations, have to correct violations of the Clean Water Act by improving their facilities and management practices," Cannon said. "We have the option to fine them, but the first priority is to just get them into compliance, and it appears that both farms are doing so."

Zwemmer Dairy owner Jake Zwemmer has made some improvements since the inspection. He said it would cost about $10,000 to contain pollutants at his farm and keep them from entering the Pinnebog River. The newspaper said it was unable to reach TeVoortwis Dairy for comment.

The EPA said it also cited a farm in St. Louis in Gratiot County in the central LOwer Peninsula, as well as 13 farms in Indiana and Ohio in order to prevent them from allowing discharge from their farms into streams and creeks.

All 16 farms cited by the EPA were built by Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development of Wauseon, Ohio.

Ann Woiwode, director of the Sierra Club in Michigan, has said that concentrated animal feeding operations pose a serious threat to human health and the environment.

According to the official documents from the EPA, the citations report that both the TeVoortwis and Zwemmer dairy farms "have discharged or have the potential to discharge pollutants to ditches that drain to the Pinnebog River, which empties into Lake Huron."

"Manure and silage leachate are problems because they contain bacteria and nutrients that can lead to excessive algae growth, kill fish and cause infectious diseases in people," Cannon said. Read More....
Three Michigan dairy farms dump waste in water, EPA says