Iowa food companies routinely violate water pollution permits -- and rarely face penalties

[progressoid]

Deb El Food Products LLC is one of hundreds of Iowa-based companies cited for violating its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit this year.

After months of dumping wastewater that exceeded the toxic compound limits set forth in the permit, the liquid egg company was cited for “significant noncompliance” by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. These types of violations pose a great threat to water quality and public health, as high concentrations of certain toxic compounds in drinking water, like nitrates, can be life-threatening to babies and may increase cancer risk in adults.

Of the 38 agricultural violators identified this year, only one has been fined for its violations, in a “sweetheart deal” according to lawyers involved in a case against the facility.

...snip...

NPDES permits were created as part of the Clean Water Act to regulate wastewater discharges from “point source” facilities, such as buildings, city water departments and manufacturing plants like Deb El Food Products. Yet under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act, farms, including factory farms that release trillions of pounds of manure each year, are not required to obtain a permit for their regular operations, unless they discharge, or propose to discharge, to public waterways.

In Iowa, fewer than 4 percent of concentrated animal feeding operations have NPDES permits, according to the EPA’s data. Discharges from CAFOs into public waterways are essentially unregulated, unless the violators are caught, in which case they typically receive a fine. Still, even regulated agricultural companies like Deb El frequently violate their wastewater discharge permits.


more...https://www.thegazette.com/environment-nature/iowa-food-companies-routinely-violate-water-pollution-permits-and-rarely-face-penalties/

[LakeVermilion]

1. That's a lot of people who live downstream!

I guess I’m fortunate to live in Minnesota.

[progressoid]

2. I wish Iowa took it's water (and land) stewardship as seriously as Minnesota

A couple people I know in MN have complained about rules and regs but all they need to do is look here to see what the alternative brings.

We recently bought a reverse osmosis system for our kid since their drinking water would regularly fail nitrate tests.

[LT Barclay]

3. That's because often the state permitting process is designed to protect polluters

Here’s how it worked in Missouri: if a violation was egregious enough to warrant EPA attention, the state would jump in (probably after the company called a state rep or the governor) and the state would offer to take over prosecution, which meant delays and compromise until there was just a pat on the wrist.