While the Pierce County Board didn’t vote on a proposed waste storage ordinance, it sure heard a lot of feedback about it during public comment at the July 25 meeting.

Land Conservation Director Rod Webb said the purpose of revising the waste storage ordinance, which hasn’t been done since 2011, is to provide standards and specifics to anyone who wants to build a structure to contain animal waste. The revisions incorporate all NR 151 Agricultural Performance Standards and creates a Certificate of Use provision for all new waste storage ordinance permit applications.

The purpose of the ordinance is to regulate the location, design, construction, installation, alteration and use of waste storage facilities and the application of waste (manure, milking center waste, other organic waste generated by a livestock facility) from these facilities in order to prevent water pollution, protect the health and welfare of Pierce County residents, animals, plants and the economy. It also provides for administration, enforcement and penalties for its violation.

One revision would require a minimum 180-day storage capacity requirement for animal waste.

This requires an annual submission of a Nutrient Management Plan that shows the LC department where the manure that is stored in the structure is applied and that it will be applied properly, Webb said

“The 180-day requirement is found in Wisconsin administrative rule 243 that applies to all large livestock facilities that have 1,000 animal units or greater,” Webb said. “Winter spreading of liquid manure is very conducive to pollution of our surface. This will allow farms to get through the frozen season and greatly reduce the risk of run-off.”

If the storage requirement is less than 180 days, it will most certainly guarantee that producers will need to haul manure during the winter months and put liquid manure on snow-covered ground that could have environmental implications and fines from the DNR, Webb added. The revision protects the environment and the farmers.  

“The cost of building one includes a significant engineering cost,” Webb said. “The scale, cost per cow, definitely decreases as you increase the number of days. Building a small structure can be very expensive. If you’re investing x dollars, it’s probably worth it to spend 2x dollars to get something that will provide more protection.”

As for Certificate of Use provision, Webb said in general, more situations are arising in which farmers have more manure stored than they have acres to spread it on.

“For example, they have 1,000 acres worth of manure but only 750 acres of cropland available,” Webb said. “It will be difficult for the farm to follow the rules.”

During the Nutrient Management Plan process, the Land Conservation Department will calculate the manure that will be produced on the farm and determine the number of acres that need to be available for spreading, Webb explained.

“Then they’ll need to provide the department legal, notarized agreements that they have enough land to spread,” Webb said. “This is an attempt to combat that problem of having too much manure and not enough cropland. And it won’t be a yearly battle to find the acres to meet the NMP.”

The Certificate of Use must be between the producer and the landowner. No financial information will be disclosed, Webb said.

“It’s simply an agreement that landowner A will allow manure spread on x number of acres from dairy producer A,” Webb said.  

Violators will be fined $200 per violation plus fees.

“Each day that the violation exists could be considered a new violation, so $200 per day,” Webb said.

Supervisor Neil Gulbranson asked Webb if farmers are good stewards of the land in Pierce, as he’s been told.

“For the most part there’s a very good conservation ethic in Pierce County,” Webb said. “And most of the landowners are trying to protect their resources.”

Supervisor Ben Plunkett if farmers are following the law and USDA regulations in place to protect groundwater, that doesn’t erase the fact 16% of wells tested in Pierce County (721 tested between 2018 and 2022) have nitrates above the level the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe, not to mention fecal matter.

“We’re drinking poop. Are these more stringent standards or do we need to be looking at something more?” Plunkett asked.

Webb said the standards they follow represent the best science currently available.

“We have to trust that following the standards will give us reasonable resource protection,” Webb said. “It’s important to recognize that we’re dealing with Mother Nature. We could be following the standards and have a 7-inch rainstorm. Increasing the accountability and having good relationships with the people who are using the land is the key and will help us meet our goals.”

Supervisor Mel Pittman pointed out the Pierce County Land Conservation Committee July 25 approved moving forward with implementing a Groundwater Advisory Committee, which will be tasked with analyzing the causes of groundwater pollution in Pierce County.

Supervisor Michael Kahlow encouraged people to look at the Wisconsin Well Water Map from UW-Stevens Point, which shows the results for various tests on private wells down to the section level.

“We don’t end up in a very good place with that,” Kahlow said. “15-16% of wells have nitrate contamination and fecal matter.”

Chad Zuleger, director of government affairs for the Dairy Business Association, said the DBA is against the waste storage ordinance.

“Our organization found several provisions in the proposed ordinance concerning,” Zuleger said. He called them impractical, time-consuming and burdensome regulations.

“Dealing with the certificate of use, it speaks more to manure spreading than waste storage. The new regulations will be problematic or are already being complied with,” he concluded.

Paul Fetzer, CEO of Fetzer Farms, Elmwood, said the certificate of use provision will make things more difficult for farmers. He believes it should be with the land operators, since many landowners are absentee.

Pittman rebutted that many Land Conservation programs already require notarized signatures.

“If it’s inconvenient to get to the landowners, the agreement can be notarized by two different parties. Yes, this landowner agreed to that. We don’t want to make this more difficult, but we want some more assurance that the people looking for acres on which to spread they have a good a situation in place. It protects farmers too,” Pittman said.

Supervisor Dan Puhrmann, who is also a farmer, said he believes having the landowner sign the agreement is crucial.

“If you don’t get the landowner, the land operator is not guaranteed to run that land,” Puhrmann said. “Now two people might be out of business. You must have the owner committed to the application, because if the user gets booted, the farm has nowhere to spread.”

The Pierce County Board will hear the second reading of the waste storage ordinance revisions at its August meeting.