Support Clean Water for St. Croix County
We all need and want clean water—for drinking, for our households, for our businesses, and for our recreational activities.
To better protect our groundwater and surface waters, St. Croix County Supervisors are considering adopting a new “Chapter 11 - Manure Storage Facilities” County Ordinance to replace the existing “Chapter 11 - Animal Waste Storage Facilities”. The proposed “Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance is online at https://sccwi.gov/406/Animal-Waste.
Please learn more about what the proposed “Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance would accomplish for our public waters and our common good by joining two upcoming events:
Thursday December 5, at 6:30PM, on ZOOM: Learn about the proposed changes to Chapter 11, why changes are needed, and how you can support them. Sponsored by St. Croix County Defending Our Water, St. Croix CURES, and SOS Lake Mallalieu - Save Our Swans:
ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85170249222?pwd=tHYtBDpdBAY2NJKhifokU3pNp3523x.1
Meeting ID: 851 7024 9222
Passcode: 391234
Thursday December 12, at 5PM, Public Open House to Discuss Proposed “Manure Storage Facilities” Ordinance, at St. Croix County Government Center, 1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson: Talk with Supervisors on the St. Croix County Board’s Community Development Committee, County staff in the Land & Water Conservation Division, farmers, and other St. Croix County community members. Further ordinance amendments may be presented and discussed.
Please show your support for the proposed “Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance by signing and sharing the online petition at https://chng.it/6xSszdMg8x.
Please comment in favor of adopting the "Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance in the Thursday December 19, 5PM, Public Hearing by the
Community Development Committee, at the St. Croix County Government Center, 1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson. The Public Hearing Notice is online at https://cdn.townweb.com/townofstarprairiewi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241219_SCC_WasteStorage.pdf.
You may submit written or oral comments at any time prior to the Public Hearing or at the Public Hearing.
Please submit written comments by mail, email, or in person as follows:
Mail / In Person: St. Croix County, Attn: Tim Stieber, Land and Water Conservation Administrator, 1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson, WI 54016
Email: cdd@sccwi.gov OR tim.stieber@sccwi.gov; and
Phone: 715-531-1905.
Groundwater is the primary residential drinking water source for people in St. Croix County, drawn from either municipal or private wells. But our groundwater is becoming more and more contaminated by nitrates that leach down from the land surface above. Manure and/or bio-solids spread onto farm fields are a source of nitrates that leach down to contaminate our groundwater when greater quantities of nutrients than crops can use are applied to the fields.
Our St. Croix County surface waters are becoming more and more contaminated by sediments and chemicals that run off the lands within their watersheds. A source of sediments and excess phosphorous and nitrogen in our surface waters is runoff from fields where too much manure has been spread.
The proposed “Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance would require the operation of new or expanded “manure storage facilities” to not make our water quality worse.
In summary, as now proposed the new “Chapter 11 - Manure Storage Facilities” ordinance would:
Apply within unincorporated County areas.
Apply to new or expanded manure storage facilities.
Adopt existing regulations and current regulatory practices regarding manure storage and handling by a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).
Codify at the County level federal and state regulations now applicable to manure storage and handling by CAFOs, and apply the same requirements to manure storage and handling by manure digester operations and by any other entity storing manure regardless of whether the entity also owns or raises livestock.
Specify materials that may be included as manure, process wastewater, and/or non-manure in a manure storage facility, and prohibit including dead animals, medical wastes, petroleum products, pesticides, paints, solvents, or hazardous wastes.
Apply to Nutrient Management Plans (NMPs) required due to establishment of a manure storage facility. Require acreage adequate for land spreading. Require landowner-signed land spreading contracts and require that fields not be included in another NMP. Require NMPs to demonstrate either no increase in or reduction of sediment and phosphorous delivery to impaired or exceptional resource waters. Require NMPs to demonstrate no increase in or reduction of total nitrogen and phosphorous applied to lands in the NMP. It would not apply to NMPs for cropland not associated with a manure storage facility.
The existing “Chapter 11 - Animal Waste Storage Facilities” ordinance has several shortcomings, including:
It does not clearly apply to a manure digester operation or to any other entity that stores and handles manure but does not also own or raise animals.
It does not clearly specify that whenever manure from a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) is in a manure storage facility then Wisconsin’s administrative rules for CAFOs found in NR 243 apply to the storage and field application of the manure.
It does not clearly specify what procedures must be followed when non-manure wastes are incorporated into a manure storage facility. This omission may allow large amounts of industrial wastes to be mixed with manure and applied to farmland. This omission may allow land-spreading materials that contain “forever chemicals” which are harmful to our farmlands, groundwater and surface waters, and health.
It does not require submitting nutrient management plans (NMPs) needed due to the establishment of a manure storage facility in the electronic “SNAP-PLUS with database” format that facilitates quick and efficient review by County staff.
It does not require the applicant for a new or expanded manure storage facility to demonstrate that they have secured adequate acreage for applying the anticipated volume of manure.
It is inadequate to address greater environmental impacts from industrial agriculture as the numbers of CAFOs and manure digesters grow.