Program Contacts
Program Manager
David Kuszmar / 707-576-2693 / David.Kuszmar@waterboards.ca.gov
Lead Staff
Joshua Luders / 707-576-2551 / Joshua.Luders@waterboards.ca.gov
Overview and Purpose
The North Coast Region is home to approximately 100 dairy facilities regulated by the General Waste Discharge Requirements for Dairies Order No. R1-2019-0001 (Dairy GWDR). The Dairy GWDR applies to existing, new, and expanding cow, goat, sheep, and water buffalo dairies. Any dairy facilities that do not meet the conditions of the Dairy GWDR must apply for an individual permit.
Dairies generate wastes that include but are not limited to manure, process wastewater, animal wash water, and any water, precipitation, or rainfall runoff that contacts animal confinement areas and/or raw materials, products, or byproducts such as from milk processing, manure, compost piles, feed, bedding materials, silage, animal tissue or animal mortality. Water quality constituents of concern in these discharges include nitrogen, sediment, dissolved solids, oxygen-depleting organic matter, and pathogens. The Dairy GWDR includes requirements for the proper management and operation of animal housing, production areas, ponds or lagoons, riparian areas, and land application areas to reduce and/or eliminate the discharge of waste to waters of the state.
Many of the dairies in the North Coast Region are pasture-based operations, which means they operate with an animal population density low enough to allow for sustainable, seasonal grazing as a primary source of feeding. However, because dairies occasionally concentrate their animals in production areas for purposes such as milking, housing, and supplemental feeding, the Dairy GWDR includes provisions to ensure that consolidated dairy wastes in these areas are properly managed to protect water quality.
Program Priorities for Fiscal Year 25/26
- Continue to conduct education and outreach to dairy operators to foster collaborative relationships and to ensure ongoing and improved implementation of Dairy GWDR requirements.
- Conduct compliance inspections at roughly one quarter of all dairies enrolled under the Dairy GWDR.
- Assist dairy operators in complying with Dairy GWDR groundwater monitoring requirements as implementation deadlines approach .
- Continue to foster relationships and work collaboratively with expert partners such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of California Cooperative Extension, Resource Conservation Districts, County Departments of Agriculture, the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, and other industry stakeholders in support of permitted dairy facilities.
- Continue to work with agency partners, academic institutions, and dairy industry experts to develop safe and sustainable carcass disposal methods, especially when rendering services are not readily available or when environmentally preferrable alternatives exist.
- Continue to support dairy operators participating in the California Department of Food and Agriculture's grant program for installing digesters and alternative manure management technologies at permitted dairies.
- Explore and promote alternative funding opportunities for dairies, so they can sustainably optimize compliance with Dairy GWDR requirements and other environmental protection regulations.