Grand Jury Indicts Operators of Dairy for Waste Runoff

The operators of a San Marcos dairy often criticized by water quality regulators were indicted Friday by a federal grand jury on felony charges of discharging heavily contaminated barn runoff into San Marcos Creek.

The nine-count indictment alleges that Jacob Wilgenburg, the 64-year-old owner of the Wilgenburg Dairy, and Edward John Wilgenburg, manager of the dairy, dumped the effluent directly into the creek, despite repeated warnings from regulators that it should be used for irrigation or disposed of through sewer lines.

Local dairy operators have been locked for years in an escalating battle with the Regional Water Quality Control Board over the handling of barn runoff. The criminal indictment Friday is the most dramatic episode in the protracted dispute and the strongest action taken against any dairy operator.

Legislator ‘Shocked’

Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-Escondido), who has introduced legislation to limit the water board’s powers to regulate dairy-generated pollution, said he was “shocked” to learn of the indictment. Bradley said he was surprised that federal investigators had become involved in the matter, adding that he planned to find out why the case had not remained a state affair.

The indictment accuses the Wilgenburgs of violating the federal Clean Water Act by being responsible for seven illegal discharges of dairy waste from their 500-cow farm in February, March and April. Edward Wilgenburg, 25, also is charged with lying to FBI agents about the existence of a system of pipes through which the men are accused of dumping the pollutants into San Marcos Creek.

Waters from the creek flow into Lake San Marcos, which overflows into Batiquitos Lagoon, the sensitive wetland that has been the frequent victim of sewage spills and other contamination.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall said the water board had repeatedly notified the Wilgenburgs beginning in the mid-1970s of complaints of illegal discharges from the dairy and had informed the dairymen of proper methods for handling dairy barn effluents.

The board’s contacts were “advisory” in nature, rather than disciplinary, however, Crandall said. Generally, efforts by the board’s staff to crack down on pollution from the county’s dairies have been sidetracked by the board, which has preferred a course of tightening regulations and negotiating with dairy operators to win compliance.

A woman who answered the phone Friday afternoon at the Wilgenburg Dairy said the operators would have no comment on the indictment. She said they were in the process of retaining a lawyer.

Crandall said the men were expected to surrender voluntarily Monday for arraignment in U.S. District Court.

Because it is a highly concentrated pollutant, dairy barn runoff is of particular concern to water quality regulators, according to Art Coe, a water board engineer. Under a formula used by regulators, a 500-cow farm like the Wilgenburgs’ produces as much waste as a community of 8,500 people.

The effluent, generated when cows are washed before milking and when a barn is cleaned afterward, is heavily contaminated with bovine feces, urine and other substances, according to the indictment. Carrying a heavy load of microorganisms, it strains the oxygen resources of waters in which it is dumped and can contain viruses and other pathogens dangerous to human health.

Tests of creek waters near the dairy following the alleged illegal discharges found oxygen demand levels up to almost 11 times as high as those that would have been created by the dumping of untreated human waste, according to a statement released by U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez.