Temporary restraining order issued against Orange County
swine producer whose operation discharged waste Friday
ORANGE COUNTY -- State water quality regulators have obtained a
temporary restraining order against an Orange County swine producer whose operation had a waste discharge Friday to a tributary of Byrds Creek.
Fred McPherson of Hurdle Mills, owner of Beaver Creek Farm, was ordered
on Monday to cease production and to remove the approximate 4,000 hogs in the feeder-to-finish operation. The farm is located in northern Orange County off State Road 1515 about half a mile from S.R. 1001.
"It's a serious situation and called for decisive action," said Tommy
Stevens, deputy director of the Division of Water Quality. "This facility has two lagoons and both are in bad shape, and now he's pumped too much and caused a discharge."
Orange County Superior Court Judge Wiley F. Bowen signed the
restraining order on Monday. DWQ is also seeking a court injunction, which was filed for on Jan. 12, because McPherson has been operating without a required certified animal waste management plan.
Last Wednesday, inspectors from DWQ's Raleigh Regional Office attempted to contact McPherson to inspect his lagoons in response to concerns expressed by groundwater staff who visited the site to review a well variance request. At that time, both lagoons appeared to have insufficient freeboard. Lagoons are required to have a minimum of 19 inches of freeboard, which is intended to prevent discharges in the event of a 24-hour, 25-year storm event.
When DWQ inspectors were on site Friday, "One of the lagoons had six
inches of freeboard and the other only had about eight inches," said Charles Alvarez, an environmental engineer with the region. "We found hog waste, which had been recently over applied, running off a spray field into surface waters."
Alvarez said "reddish-brown waste" was seen flowing into ditches that
lead to a unnamed tributary of Byrds Creek. The creek is about 10 miles upstream of Lake Michie, a water supply for Durham County, which is in the Neuse River Basin. Samples were collected for fecal coliform and other water quality parameters, results of which are not yet known. Downstream facilities have been notified, resulting in stepped-up monitoring.
Beaver Creek has been operating without a certified animal waste management plan -- the deadline for obtaining one being Dec. 31, 1997. DWQ notified McPherson in a certified letter Feb. 11, 1998 that no application had been submitted and that he faced possible enforcement action. That letter also advised McPherson that he still had the opportunity to obtain a special agreement to operate if he could demonstrate that he had signed up with the Soil and Water Conservation Service by Sept. 1, 1996 and had made a "good faith effort" to become certified.
McPherson applied for the special agreement March 3, 1998, but DWQ determined that no prior effort had been made to obtain and implement a certified animal waste management plan. On July 24, the division denied the special agreement application and notified the grower that he faced penalties for continued operations.
McPherson's compliance history includes a March 1997 notice of
violation for failure to designate an operator in charge. In November 1997, he was issued a deficiency notice for inadequate freeboard.
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Date released: 02/09/99
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