Why do we need Clean Water Act permits issued?
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program is a federal program implemented by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) under an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This program regulates the direct discharge of pollution to surface waters.
Under the NPDES program, all facilities that discharge pollutants from any point source (such as a drainage pipe) into surface waters are required to obtain a NPDES, or Clean Water Act (CWA), permit from the Iowa DNR. The permits require compliance with all federal standards, state rules, and state administrative code.
In October 2014, Iowa enacted a CWA rule, meant to strengthen enforcement of the federal CWA for factory farms by bringing Iowa’s rules for these operations into line with EPA’s. To date, no single confinement factory farm has been issued a CWA/NPDES permit despite Iowa DNR’s full authority to do so.
The only water pollution regulation that confinement factory farm operations currently fall under is the Manure Management Plan (MMP) program.
If a factory farm was issued a NPDES permit under the CWA, it would provide:
Broader coverage of enforcement These permits must prevent discharges from the production area as well as land application areas. Iowa’s MMPs only address land application areas, aka where manure is spread. The production area refers to where the animals, feed, water, mortalities, and other raw materials are confined.
More transparency When permits are proposed the public must be given notice of the proposed permit and an opportunity to comment on it. NPDES permits, and all associated reports, must be publicly accessible.
Fixed terms Unlike Iowa’s MMPs, NPDES permits have fixed five-year terms. That way, they are subject to being reviewed, updated, or terminated on a regular basis. MMPs are typically reviewed only upon a factory farm’s construction. The owner of a confinement factory farm is required to submit a MMP annually; however the DNR has admitted that they don’t have the staff necessary to review each MMP on an annual basis and MMPs do not address production areas.
Operation & maintenance requirements CWA permits have operation and maintenance requirements so that factory farm operators prevent problems before they happen. Currently, factory farm owners may have to fix a problem after a discharge, but aren’t required to use basic practice that would prevent many discharges in the first place.
Higher penalties for violations State law caps penalties at $5,000 per day per violation and the state cannot collect more than $10,000 per violation. Under the CWA, penalties are up to $37,000 per day per violation, which would include penalties for discharges or other violations of a permit. Higher penalties mean greater deterrence from pollution. When facilities have NPDES permits, permit violations are also CWA violations that can warrant these heightened penalties, even if the violation does not cause a discharge to a surface water.
Learn more
Why do we want Clean Water Act permits issued to factory farms?
Timeline of how CCI members pushed DNR to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act