EPA Levies Fine Over Pollution by Chino Dairy

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday fined the former owner of a Chino dairy $48,000 for contaminating a tributary of the Santa Ana River with an overflow of cow manure.

Though the river helps replenish Orange County’s ground water before it flows into the Pacific Ocean off Huntington Beach, federal officials believe the contamination never seeped past the Prado Dam in Riverside County.

The former operators of the Beranna Dairy were fined for violating the federal Clean Water Act. The dairy allowed pooled manure to spill into a flood channel that flows to the Prado Dam. The EPA began its investigation in March 2000.

“If dairy manure had been properly managed and stored, our penalty could have been avoided,” said Alexis Strauss, director of the EPA’s southwest office’s water division.

However, Strauss stressed that the dairy had changed ownership since the violations, and that the new owner has initiated improvements to prevent overflows.

The name of the dairy’s former owner and dates of the violations were unavailable Tuesday.

The fine is the third levied against a Chino dairy in the past year.

More than 220 dairies in the Chino Basin area of Riverside and San Bernardino counties are home to more than 325,000 cows--the largest concentration of dairy farms in the country. One cow produces about 10 pounds of manure a day, or 1.8 tons a year.

How much washes into Santa Ana River isn’t known, but water officials say contamination exists. Manure causes high concentrations of nitrates and minerals.

The Orange County Water District relies on the river for 38% of the water it needs to replenish the ground water that serves northern and central parts of the county.

Orange County’s ground water supply meets state and federal drinking water standards, but is considered hard water, which shortens the life span of household appliances, said water district spokesman Ron Wildermuth.

The water district, along with state and federal agencies, is involved in projects aimed at stopping manure from leaving the farms, and with treatment remedies.