Dairymen are on the honor system. Remember, our families live right here on the dairy. We farm within 100 feet of our homes. Anything we do, we look at how it might affect the people that we love. State law requires dairymen to inform water quality officials when they build new dairies or expand herds.
Dairymen also sign pledges to follow environmental rules.
Most of the time, from the state's perspective, that's all it takes for a dairyman to set up shop, says Wass, senior engineer with the water quality board. Water officials rarely mount full studies of dairy proposals, and then only in major cases such as Boswell's. Boswell applied for state permits because Kings County required them, Wass says. Of the roughly 600 dairies in the region between Mariposa and Kern counties, only 12 have state-issued permits. Water quality officials blame shortages of time and money for the lack of permits and inspections.