The Gilroy dairy farmer who dumped 240,000 gallons of wastewater
into local creeks last May must keep a weekly log detailing the
state of his manure storage and drainage areas and submit to
regular inspections from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board.
Morgan Hill – The Gilroy dairy farmer who dumped 240,000 gallons of wastewater into local creeks last May must keep a weekly log detailing the state of his manure storage and drainage areas and submit to regular inspections from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The order is the board’s latest effort to keep the Furtado Dairy, which has a history of ignoring environmental regulations, open and in compliance with state water laws. It imposes a variety of new reporting requirements and demands that dairy owner Manny Furtado put together several plans to protect land and groundwater near his farm.
Matthew Keeling, the board engineer in charge of the Furtado case, said the new order is much tougher than the farm’s previous requirements, but in line with changes in the dairy farming industry.
“If you compare this order to his existing one it would appear onerous,” Keeling said. “However, many of the requirements in the proposed order are consistent with requirements currently being evaluated for dairies in the central valley, and the proposed requirements are warranted given the discharger’s record of poor dairy waste management and disposal practices.”
The Ferguson Avenue dairy has been in Gilroy since 1962, though it was closed from 1986 to 1992. The farm has a history of environmental violations that stretches back more than 20 years, but the spill in May was so egregious that Furtado faces a host of civil and criminal penalties.
The water, full of cow manure and compounds harmful to fish and humans, traveled 4.5 miles through the Alamias Creek, stopping just short of the Llagas Creek headwaters south of Pacheco Pass Highway. Environmental officials said the spill was hazardous to the endangered steelhead trout, which migrates through the Llagas, and a potential threat to the groundwater basin.
Furtado said Wednesday that he has not seen the latest order. He disagrees with the water board that he is behind schedule in cleaning up the manure and other waste that had accumulated at his dairy. The water board recently gave him until September – one year longer than a cleanup order issued by the board last June – to meet those requirements.
Furtado has maintained that the spill was an accident. He will be in court Fe. 22 to face charges filed against him by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, and he faces a civil lawsuit by his Dunlap Avenue neighbor, George Ekberg, who alleges that the farmer’s negligence repeatedly caused wastewater to flood his yard. Ekberg’s San Jose attorney, Curtis Jimerson, of Hinkle Jachimowicz Pointer & Mayron, has said that Ekberg and Furtado are headed to arbitration.
The water board’s order is tentative. It will be considered for adoption in March.
Want to Comment?
– Forward your thoughts to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board:
– by mail: 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Attn: Matt Keeling
– by phone: 805-549-3685
– by e-mail: mk******@**********ca.gov
