August 13, 2010

Welcome to Weekly Update, a publication of Western United Environmental Services (WUES), designed to bring you valuable information and helpful tips for compliance with the Waste Discharge Requirements of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. We strive to provide your dairy with quality service, while at the same time saving you money as you face the challenges of compliance. Each week you will find features on compliance issues, regulatory changes or common questions, as well as workshop notices. If you have missed any of our past issues, they can be found on our website at www.wuenvironmental.com.

WUD awarded grant to develop lagoon seepage technology

Western United Dairymen this week was awarded a grant to support development of a water balance approach for seepage measurements from liquid dairy manure storage ponds. The $111,692 grant is a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) awarded by the USDA.  CIG invests in innovative, on-the-ground conservation technologies and approaches, with the eventual goal of wide-scale adoption to address water quality and quantity, air quality, energy conservation, and environmental markets, among other natural resource issues. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers CIG as part of the Agency's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). “This project will demonstrate technology anticipated to help dairy producers find a more economical method to determine if lagoon ponds are leaking,” explained Paul Martin, WUD’s Director of Environmental Services. While the project has the goal of assisting Central Valley dairies that are dealing with issues of ground water nitrate levels, the technology could be adopted by dairies in other regions as well.   WUD is partnering on the project with UC Davis, Dairy CARES  and  Luhdorff and Scalmanini, Consulting Engineers.  The NRCS grant provides half of the funding necessary. The balance of the funding will come through partner in-kind services and a cash match of $80,000 to be provided from industry sources through the Dairy CARES coalition. The project involves demonstration projects at five dairies. Following the demonstration and data collection phase, the partners will produce a technical field manual to facilitate widespread technology transfer.  

Card check bill approved by Assembly

Legislation by Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) that would allow unions to be certified as the representatives of agricultural employees without secret ballot elections has been approved by the Assembly. SB 1474 passed by a 53-23 margin. Under the proposed law, if a majority of workers sign union authorization cards, the state would certify the union as their representative. Similar “card check” bills have previously been approved by the Legislature, only to be vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. Due to recent Assembly amendments to the measure, it must again be approved in the state Senate. If approved in the Senate, the bill moves to the Governor. The Governor vetoed similar legislation on previous occasions, but his view regarding SB 1474 is not yet known. WUD is part of a statewide coalition of ag groups actively opposing the measure.

TID Board approves dairy conductive cooling research project

The Turlock Irrigation District (TID) Board of Directors has approved the participation in a research, development and demonstration project to test thermal conductive cooling systems for dairy operations. If proven successful, this system has the potential to help dairy customers save energy by reducing or eliminating the need for High Speed Low Volume (HSLV) fans in free stall beds. Currently, the most common method used by dairy operators to abate the effects of heat stress on their animals is to utilize HSLV fans along with soaking and misting systems. This method consumes a large amount of energy during peak electrical hours.  A typical system works like this: Water is pumped from an existing farm well, exiting at 61 to 73 degrees, and enters a device called a heat exchanger beneath a cow's stall. This creates an updraft of cool air that mixes with the warm air above, ideally achieving a temperature a cow likes. The new system would rely

on the electricity already used to pump groundwater for use in water troughs, misters and milking parlor cleaning. "The energy required to circulate the water would be minimal," said Nancy Folly, consumer programs division manager for TID. The installation cost is not yet known, she said. The system would not use canal water, Folly said, because it is delivered intermittently to irrigate feed crops. Under the study proposed at a Tulare dairy, the owner has agreed to allow and support an application test by maintaining typical milking and animal movement operations for a 52-cow test group and a 150-cow control group. The test group will be cooled exclusively by the heat exchanger based, conductive cooling method. The control group will be cooled by existing ventilation and misting/soaking methods. The test protocol will be developed and monitored by the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Training Research Center (VMTRC) located in Tulare.

 

Public workshops for new state groundwater monitoring program

Public workshops are being held throughout the state in August and September on the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation program. In 2009, the Legislature passed SB X7 6, which requires local monitoring parties to collect and publicly report groundwater elevation data in conjunction with the Department of Water Resources (DWR). This legislation was approved as part of the package of water policies that passed the legislature along with the creation of the Water Bond. Currently, the state Department of Water Resources is in the process of launching the groundwater program, and the workshops are being offered to provide further details, answer questions and solicit public comment regarding the program. The workshops are being presented by DWR, in cooperation with the Association of California Water Agencies. There is no charge for the workshops, but registration is required. To view the public workshop dates and locations, and to register, visit the ACWA’s website at www.acwa.com. Aug. 9, 2010 ACWA Notice

Butter Holds the Secret to the Latest Biodiesel Fuel

Butter is not the fuel of the future, but it is possible to churn perfectly good diesel fuel out of it. “It was something we wanted to show could be done,” said Michael J. Haas, a research biochemist at the United States Department of Agriculture.  “It’s quirky,” he acknowledged of the dairy-to-diesel research, which was published in June in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The impetus was an 800-pound sculpture of Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell. Each year the Pennsylvania Farm Show, held in Harrisburg, commissions a masterpiece made out of butter. In 2007, the organizers solicited suggestions for what to do with the work after the farm show ended. Dr. Haas submitted the idea of making biodiesel fuel out of it, and that is what was done. “It had never been reported in the scientific literature,” he said. <more> Aug. 10, 2010 NY Times

Recycling Land for Green Energy Ideas

Thousands of acres of farmland here in the San Joaquin Valley have been removed from agricultural production, largely because the once fertile land is contaminated by salt buildup from years of irrigation.  But large swaths of those dry fields could have a valuable new use in their future — making electricity. Farmers and officials at Westlands Water District, a public agency that supplies water to farms in the valley, have agreed to provide land for what would be one of the world’s largest solar energy complexes, to be built on 30,000 acres. At peak output, the proposed Westlands Solar Park would generate as much electricity as several big nuclear power plants. <more> Aug. 11, 2010 NY Times