How Are Livestock Factories Regulated?

Basic terminology
When is a factory required to get a WPDES permit?

Some basic terminology: What are livestock factories and how does the DNR regulate them?
Livestock factories and the laws that regulate them have spawned a language unto themselves. Below are some basic terms that will help you understand what a livestock factory is, and how it is regulated.

Animal Feeding Operation (AFO):

• The federal government defines an animal feeding operation as "a lot or facility…where… [a]nimals…have been, are, or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of 45 days or more in any 12 month period. 40 C.F.R. s.122.23(b)(1).
• Wisconsin’s similar definition is in Wis. Admin. Code s 243.04(2).

Animal Unit (AU)

• an equivalency factor based on how much waste an animal produces.
• For example, one dairy cow weighing 1400 lbs equals 1.4 AU because it produces 1.4 cubic feet of manure each day. For a list of animals and their corresponding AU’s, see Wis. Admin. Code ch. 243, Table 2, or see the chart below:

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO):

• An AFO with more than 1,000 Animal Units (AU) is a CAFO.40 C.F.R. s. 122.23(b)(3). "CAFO" is the regulatory acronym for "livestock factory."
• An AFO with more than 300 AU’s and fewer than 1,000 AU’s, and has discharged to a water of the state is a CAFO.

Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit

• All CAFO’s must obtain a permit from the DNR to operate. These permits must require that manure pits do not leak, that there is no discharge of manure to surface or groundwater, and that the factory prepare a manure management plan to use the manure as fertilizer on crop fields.

When is a factory required to get a WPDES permit?
In passing the Clean Water Act in 1972, Congress decided that concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFO’s, posed a sufficient water pollution problem that they should be regulated under that law. As a result, Congress deemed that CAFO’s are "point sources" of pollution, just like any other factory that discharges pollution into a waterbody.

As noted in the basic terminology, the EPA has decided that a CAFO should be defined as an animal feeding operation with more than 1,000 AU’s or between 300-1,000 AU’s when the facility has also discharged pollution to a water of the state. That means that only those animal feeding operations with more than 1,000 AU’s are deemed to be CAFO’s, and therefore "point sources" under the Clean Water Act.

If an animal feeding operation falls within the definition of CAFO, it must obtain a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit. Failure to do so is a violation of the Clean Water Act.

In theory, the goal of these permits is to eliminate water pollution. In practice, these permits may be nothing more than a paper work requirement if communities do not get involved and take action to shape the terms of the permit. See Commenting on WPDES permits for more information.

There is one significant difference between CAFO’s and other factories regulated under the Clean Water Act: CAFOs cannot discharge any waste into waters of the state, except in catastrophic or chronic rainfall events. This is important because any discharge to waters of the state violates the Clean Water Act, and may result in up to $25,000 per day in penalties. See Citizen Enforcement of Environmental Laws for more information.