Georgia EPD proposes new regulations
 In December of last year, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) released a draft of revised rules for permitting large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO's).  The complete regulations can be found at (www.dnr.state.ga.us/dnr/environ) but some of the major provisions are described here.  These new regulations would have replaced the existing MOU that outlines how animal agriculture is regulated in Georgia.  They would have also updated these regulations so that they would have been consistent with the new draft Unified National Strategy that the USDA and EPA are proposing.  The purpose of paragraph 391-3-6-.20 was to provide for the uniform procedures and practices to be followed relating to the application for and the issuance or revocation of permits for the discharge of pollutants from animal feeding operations into land disposal or land treatment systems and then into waters of the State.  This paragraph would have required all operations with greater than 1,000 Animal Units to obtain a permit and outlined conditions such as discharges, a history of non-compliance, or significant contribution to water quality impairment where operations smaller than 1,000 AU would have been required to get a permit.  Individual permits would have been required for new AFOs with greater than 1000 AU or existing AFOs which proposed to expand beyond 1000 AU. Individual permits would have required comprehensive Nutrient Managament Plans (CNMP), operator certification, NRCS designed waste storage lagoons, spray irrigation fields, buffer zones, ground water monitoring wells, record keeping, periodic reporting, and other provisions as determined by the Division.  General Permits would have been required for existing unpermitted AFOs with greater than 1000 AU and would have required  CNMP's, operator certification, NRCS designed waste storage lagoons, disposal systems, record keeping, and other provisions as determined by the Division.  While these regulations were lacking in details, for example they did not mention the types of buffers and set-backs, location restrictions, or frequency of inspections, it was the intent of the EPD to develop a new MOU that would have outlined all of these details.
 These proposed regulations were presented at two public meetings in Tifton and Gainesville.  While reaction was mixed, the agricultural community essentially supported this proposal while public interest groups objected to it.  It seemed that the main arguments against this approach were that it ignored the recommendations of the stakeholder groups (See last newsletter), it did not include poultry operations, and that it did not provide enough of the details.

Georgia DNR Board requests changes to EPD regulations
 The Board of the Department of Natural Resources consists of twelve members appointed by the Governor that oversees EPD on policy matters.  This Board meets regularly and reviews the actions of the DNR.  At the January, 1999 meeting of the Board, they imposed a moratorium on awarding any new permits to swine operations with over 1,000 animal units (AU). This was done because some members felt the draft revised rule that EPD released in December was not strict enough.  Several public interest groups had requested that the Board take action on this item.
 On February 23, the Board heard presentations by four groups that participated in the Stakeholder Advisory Committee that worked with EPD last fall to develop recommendations for the new rule: the environmental group (45 min), the producer group (45 min), the academic group (15 min), and the agency group (5 min). The environmental group's presentation consisted for the most part of an environmental lawyer from North Carolina who described the problems that state has experienced with large swine operations. The producer group had short presentations from the Farm Bureau, Georgia Pork Producers, Georgia Cattleman's Association, and Georgia Poultry Federation. The academic group consisted of three AWARE team members and the agency group consisted of a member from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. After the presentations, the members of the Board asked very detailed questions of the presenters and Harold Reheis, director of EPD.
 The next morning, the Board had their regular monthly meeting and passed a motion directing EPD to revise their rule and submit it to the Board within 2 weeks.  The Board directed EPD to:
1. Provide permiting process in 2 categories: a) 1,000 - 3,000 AU designed to protect the environment and adjacent properties and encourage family operations and b) >3,000 AU more strict requirements, rules, penalties, and monitoring.
2. Make all operations to observe setback and buffer requirements sufficient to protect adjoining properties.
3. Insure no operation will be located within the 100-yr floodplain.
4. Insure that there will be no discharge into surface or ground water.
5. Include a "bad actor" provision.
6. Make sure that all operations applying for >3,000 AU permit demonstrate financial responsibility and the ability to post a bond in an amount sufficient to a) pay any fines imposed, b) assure ability to build, support, and operate a quality operation, and c) ability to finance closure and cleanup.
7. Establish a monitoring system adequate to protect the environment.
8. EPD should study feasible and cost-effective alternatives to lagoon and spray systems and change regulations when appropriate.
9. Rules should be clear and in sufficient detail to assure understanding by all interested parties.
10. These regulations will be confined to hog operations.
11. EPD will recommend what size operations should be registered with EPD.
12. The regulations shall provide for mandatory groundwater monitoring by the operator and monitoring of any nearby streams by the operator and for periodic unannounced inspections by EPD staff.
13. If the EPD proposed anything that is not as strict as other States, they must justify the reasons to the Board at the next meeting.

The EPD is currently working on new regulations to present to the Board at a March 23, 1999 meeting.  As soon as the new regulations are available we will link them to the AWARE webpage.  There will probably be additional public meetings and the goal is to have new regulations in place by this summer.

Grant Funds Available
 Last year we announced that the AWARE team and the University of Georgia had joined the Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center (APWMC).   The APWMC has jointly issued a call for proposals with the Six-State Animal Waste Management Consortium.  The RFP is on the web at http://aes.missouri.edu/rfpwaste/rfp.htm .  Please note that submission must be done through the web site and by April 5, 1999.   Please note that there are really two types of grants under this RFP.  Larger grants (up to $300,000) are available but successful proposals must include participation by lead investigators from at least 2 of the Six-State Consortium institutions (UGA is not a member of the Consortium).   If you are unable to meet the Six-State Consortium requirements for joint participation then you need to submit proposals directly (email or direct mail - no fax copies please) to the APWMC, attention: Mike Williams, also by an April 5, 1999 deadline.   The priority topics are the same as listed for the Six-State Consortium RFP; the proposal format is also the same but no requirement for joint institution participation.  It is anticipated  that successful proposal awards under this scenario, however, will have budgets consistent with past proposals awarded from APWMC membership monies (i.e. $10,000 - $20,000 range).
 Larry Newton is taking the lead in organizing teams to submit proposals from UGA.  E-mail him at fig@tifton.cpes.peachnet.edu and let him know if you are interested in working on a project.  We really need to make sure that someone on the team gets at least one of these grants as this will justify the investment in our membership to the Center.

Compost Awareness Field Day
 Tentative plans are underway to conduct a Compost Awareness Field Day in Athens at the UGA Bioconversion Research and Education Center as part of the National Compost Week in May.  Currently, plans are to have a day aimed at educating 3rd to 8th Graders from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee, Oglethorpe, and Walton Counties on May 6 from 8:30AM - 1:00PM.  On May 7, similar activities will be conducted, however, the target audience will be Community leaders, Solid Waste Directors, Public Works Directors, Recycling Coordinators, GSA Members or anyone else interested in composting.  On both days, exhibits and lab exercises will be used to introduce the principles of composting on both a large and small scale.  In addition, equipment will be demonstrated and explained.  For more information or if you would like to display equipment, contact Julia Gaskin at jgaskin@bae.uga.edu or 706-542-1401.

Compost Facility Operators Workshops
 The University of Georgia will host another Compost Facility Operators Training workshops on June 9-11, 1999 in Athens, Georgia.  These three day workshops are designed to provide large compost facility operators everything they need to know to start or run a composting operation.  Component topics include biological, physical, and chemical fundamentals of composting, microbiology, siting, equipment selection, product quality control and evaluation, regulations, managing odor and community problems.  The workshop includes laboratory exercises, lectures, hands-on demonstration, and discussion.  These workshops have been very successful in the past and have recently received an award for outstanding educational programs from the Keep America Beautiful Foundation.  The cost is $95 which covers meals and hand-out materials including the Midwest Plan Services On-farm Composting Handbook.  Space is limited and the workshops often fill up early so contact Cathy Felton 706-542-3086 to register or request additional information.

AWARE Gets Entire Track at Georgia Water Resources Conference
 The AWARE team will be an integral part of the 1999 Georgia Water Resources Conference.  The sixth biennial conference will be held on March 30-31, 1999, at the University of Georgia.  This is a forum for the discussion of current water policies, research, studies, and water management in Georgia.  It provides: (1) a forum for exchange of ideas and information for water resources professionals, (2) an update on the current water resources situation in Georgia, and (3) transfer of data, technology and management information. There will be four sessions in the conference on animal waste management including animal waste effects, management methods, nutrient management, and animal waste regulatory issues. These sessions will run all day Tuesday.  Early registration for conference participants is $110 including two lunches and proceedings.  For information about conference, call the Georgia Center for Continuing Education at 706-542-6364.  Several of the research projects presented later in this newsletter will be presented at the conference.

AWARE to meet prior to GWR Conference
 The AWARE team will be having a meeting prior to the Water Resources Conference on March 29, 1999 at 1:00 in Driftmier Engineering Center Faculty Conference Room.  The focus of this meeting will be to coordinate grant applications, discuss improvement of our web page and newsletter, and discuss upcoming and future activities.  The meeting will be open to anyone that would like to attend.

We Do Research.....
 Here are some abstracts for recently completed research projects.  Please contact the authors for more information:

Grazing Management Effects on Surface Runoff From Pastures Fertilized With Broiler Litter
Holli Kuykendall1, Miguel Cabrera2, Carl Hoveland2, Mark McCann3, and Larry West2
1Georgia State Office, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 355 E. Hancock Avenue, Athens, GA 30601; 2Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences; 3Extension Animal Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Repeated heavy applications of broadcast broiler litter can increase nutrient runoff from pastures.  Rotational stocking of cattle, as compared to continuous stocking, may be useful in decreasing surface nutrient runoff because of better manure distribution and more uniform forage accumulation to act as filters and trap nutrients.  The objective of this study was to measure phosphorus runoff from six 0.75-ha (6-8% slope) endophyte-infected tall fescue-common bermudagrass pastures that were fertilized with 13 to 15 Mg (dry weight)/ha/yr broiler litter.  Runoff was analyzed for dissolved reactive P (DRP) and total Kjeldahl P (TKP).  Grazing method had no effect (P>0.10) on surface runoff quality or quantity.  The average flow weighted concentration of DRP for both stocking treatments was 5.1 mg P/L for the first year and 8.2 mg P/L for the second year (P<0.10).  The flow weighted concentration of TKP was 6.8 mg P/L  for the first year and 12.8 mg P/L for the second year (P<0.10).  A substantial portion of the second year nutrient loss came from a single runoff event that occurred just two days after the third broiler litter application.

Irrigated, Multiple-Cropping using Broiler Litter in ConservationTillage
G. J. Gascho,  B. Baldree, T. B. Brenneman,  D. R. Sumner, G. H., Harris, R. K. Hubbard, A. W. Johnson, and W. W. Hanna.
A double-cropped, irrigated, conservation-tilled, three-year rotation was initiated at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia in 1996 and continues in order to determine the fertilization needed to balance nutrition supplied as broiler litter. Cotton, peanut, and pearl millet for grain are planted in the summer.  Wheat and canola are planted in the winter.  Following cotton the plots are fallowed. All summer and all winter crops are grown each year. The plots are arranged in split-plots with broiler litter rates of 0, 2, 4, and 6 ton/acre before each crop as the main plots and fertilizer treatments as the split plots.  High rates of broiler litter are rapidly
increasing soil test P, signaling potential problems in the future. Litter application provided yield and value/acre increases for cotton, grain pearl millet, wheat, and canola.  Any litter application was detrimental to peanut yield, grade, and value. At a suggested rate of 2 ton litter/acre, gross returns of cotton increased by $66 or $89/acre/year due to 10 gal of 10-34-0 or 12-22-5 (2S) as starter fertilizers, respectively, but not consistently to three foliar KNO3 applications; millet value increased only slightly due to starter application, but by $19 to $28 due to 40 lb N/acre as side dressed UAN; wheat value increased by $57/acre due to 40 lb N, and canola value increased as much as $84/acre from two dribble applications of 40 lb N as UAN spaced at 45 and 90 days after emergence.  Peanut responded only to application of a fungicide (Moncut) in all three years of this rotation.  These data should be useful in making recommendations for litter rates and economically efficient applications of fertilizers following litter applications in conservation tillage. Soil samples collected at depth increments to 75 cm indicate the effects of the broiler litter rates on elemental concentrations. No serious disease or nematode problems related to
litter application developed in the study.

Pilot scale Treatment of Air effluent using Low-cost Biofiltration Technology
K.C. Das, B.S. Magbanua (UGA),  H.G. Pilcher, J. Kimble-Batson and J. Stier (ADF).
American Dehydrated foods is a company that dehydrates hatchery and food wastes to extract valuable proteins that can be sold as animal feed supplements.  The process generates odors and other contaminants in the air streams.  Present treatment methods are based on chemically treating, oxidizing and subsequently masking odors using sprays.  These are expensive and not achieving the goals of the company.  This paper reports a new approach using low-cost biofiltration technology to treat this air effluent.  A nine month pilot using a 40 cubic yard biofilter was conducted.  The paper describes construction and monitoring of the biofilter during this time period.  Results show that odorous sulfur compounds are removed at rates greater than 80%, odor (measured as dilutions to threshold) is removed over 90%, but, some volatiles are removed at low rates (below 50%).  This study is in progress.

Federal Animal Waste Bill Introduced
 February 10, 1999, Mr. George Miller of California introduced legislation to address polluted runoff from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), such as large dairies, cattle feedlots, and hog and poultry farms. His bill, the Farm Sustainability and Animal Feedlot Enforcement (Farm SAFE) Act addresses many deficiencies in the current regulations. The bill will lower the size threshold for CAFOs essential cutting the threshold down to 500 animal units, substantially increasing the number of facilities that will have to contain animal wastes. It will require all CAFOs to obtain and abide by a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  While Mr. Miller is encouraged by recent efforts by the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency to address pollution from animal feedlots, he wants them to go a step further. The bill directs EPA, working with USDA, to develop binding limits on the amount of animal waste that can be applied to land as fertilizer based on crop nutrient requirements. In addition, the bill makes the owners of animals raised at large facilities liable on a pro rated basis for pollution caused by those facilities and considers any operations within a watershed that are owned by a single operator to be one facility. The bill can be accessed thru the library of congress at: http://thomas.loc.gov/ by inserting the bill number (H.R. 684) and hitting search.  While I would doubt that this bill has much of a chance of being acted on based on the ongoing efforts of the EPA and USDA, it is something to watch and once again points out the increasing scrutiny that all animal feeding operations are under.

On-farm Odor Assessment Program to Kick Off in Georgia
 It is estimated that at many pork producing operations as much as half of the odor can be reduced through improved management.  The On-farm Odor/Environmental Assistance Program, launched by the National Pork Producers Council, is designed to provide producers with a neutral, third party assessment of their operation's odor and environmental management effectiveness and identify areas where improvements are possible.  The program was developed by experts throughout the country in Extension and the NRCS, by Tetra Tech EM Inc. and by the EPA in conjunction with NPPC.  The program offers all pork producers the opportunity to have a team of trained engineers/technicians conduct a detailed, onsite assessment of the operations buildings, manure handling and storage structures, manure management plans, and overall facility siting, operations, and maintenance.  The team then provides a written report detailing areas or practices that may be having an impact on odor or environmental performance.  The program has been tested and proven it's effectiveness.
 The NPPC is in the process of implementing the program in Georgia.  Plans are to conduct a training session for third party evaluators on April 6 and 7, 1999.  Once these assessors complete the training and conduct two written assessments, they will be eligible to be paid $500 to $750 for each additional assessment that they conduct.  If you are interested in becoming an assessor or just learning a little more about the program, please contact Roger Bernard at 800-537-5988 or GAPORK@aol.com.

Another Dairy Fined
 Rockview Farms, Inc., which operates a dairy farm in Amargosa, Nevada, under the name of Ponderosa Dairy, and its manager, Eric Goedhart, pleaded guilty on January 21, 1999, in the U.S. District Court in Fresno, California, to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). The offenses occurred in February 1990 when Goedhart and another employee illegally discharged 1.7 million gallons of dairy waste water contaminated with urine and feces. The court ordered Rockview to pay a fine of $250,000 to (1) reimburse investigating costs of $6,900, (2) enact an extensive environmental compliance plan, (3) obtain a CWA permit, and (4) donate $10,000 worth of investigatory equipment to the local Dairy Waste Enforcement Task Force. Goedhart was fined $5,000 and placed on three years of probation.

NCSU Animal Waste Management Symposium Successful
 Several individuals from Georgia attended the 1999 Animal Waste Management Symposium at North Carolina State University.  This conference consisted of more than 80 presentations that were all on research and extension projects being conducted in North Carolina.  It was very impressive seeing so much work being done by one University.  It would be impossible for me to share everything I learned there but one of the biggest take home messages was that cost effective alternatives to lagoon systems have not been developed eight.  Various researchers made presentations on eight different technologies that have been scientifically evaluated and while some of them showed promise, none were economically feasible for today's pork producers.  There were also many presentations on odor detection and methods of reduction, ammonia emission and deposition, and byproduct utilization.  Symposium Proceedings are now for sale. They may be purchased from the N.C. State University Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center for $30. Purchase requests should be sent to Brenda Boykin, NC State Animal & Poultry Waste Management Center, NC State University, Box 7608, Raleigh, NC 27695. Checks should be made out to the APWMC Enhancement.  For an overview of the proceedings check out http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/sympos.htm.

Resources
AWARE Webpage: http://www.engr.uga.edu/service/extension/aware/
 We have added many links to our web page including other sites, new pictures, and some publications.  Please stop in and visit for a while.  Also, at our March 29 meeting we will be discussing how to improve this page and link it to the CAES page.  Please come with suggestions.

Broiler Litter: Blessing or Curse?
 One of the things we have added to the Web page is an article that Carl S. Hoveland did for the Georgia Cattleman's Magazine.  This article gives a brief overview of some of the advantages and disadvantages of using poultry litter on forage.  It also mentions current research projects and environmental considerations.  Check it out under the publications link.

New Report on County Concerns for AFO's
 Dr. James Kundell recently completed a report for the National Association of Counties titled: "Animal Feedings Operations, The Role of Counties".  This 50 page report is very informative and I would recommend it to all county commissioners.  It contains major sections on the situation, corporate farming and it's impact on rural economies, protection of environmental quality and public health, siting AFO's and structures and conclusions.  One of the most innovative things this publication tries to do is outline just what the Federal, State, and Local governments should be trying to regulate.  Do you know?  I'd also like to quote the final line as I feel it is one that the AWARE team has been trying to make for the last two years, "In short, the best advice to counties that have not been faced with CAFO siting issues is to put your land use planning and controls in place so that you are positioned to address the siting issues should they appear" For more information on this publication contact Dr. Kundall at 706-542-6250 or kundell@cviog.uga.edu.

Events
March 24-26, 1999 Nutrient Management Planning Conference, Niagara Falls, Canada,
Contact: Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, 1-800-265-9751

March 29, 1999 AWARE team meeting.  Driftmier Engineering Center, Athens

March 29-31, 1999 Georgia Water Resources Conference, Athens, GA.
Contact: the Georgia Center for Continuing Education at 706-542-6364.

 April 18-22, Southern Region Extension Water Quality Conference, Raleigh, NC.
Contact: Bill Segars at 706-542-9072.

June 9-12. National Workshop on constructed Wetlands and BMP's for Nutrient Reduction and Coastal Water Protection, New Orleans, LA. Contact: Frank Humenik 919-515-6767.

June 9-11, Compost Facility Operators Training Workshop, Athens, GA.
Contact: Mark Risse, 706-542-9067, mrisse@bae.uga.edu

August 3-5, Grazing Management Training School, Mount Berry, GA.
Contact: Judy Wilson, 706-238-7882

August 18-19, Stream Restoration and Protection Conference, Asheville, NC
Contact: terry_pollard@ncsu.edu, 919-515-3723

December 15-17, Conservation 2000, New Orleans, LA.
Contact: CTIC@CTIC.purdue.edu 765-494-9555.