Early indications, however, are good, he said. Hillsborough County has at least 10 small dairies, and there are as many as 20 others in urban areas elsewhere in the state, officials said. Most of the Hillsborough County dairies likely could use the artificial wetlands system, said Jemy Hinton, an environmental specialist and agriculture liaison at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tampa. Since the farm was built, however, numerous roads, including U.S. 301 and Interstate 4, have cut into its property, as has an industrial complex on the west side of U.S. 301. The wetlands add an extra layer of treatment to runoff created as part of the farm's routine daily operations, Nordstedt and Sowerby said.
Workers remove much of the farm's solid waste and send it to a company that turns it into compost.
But they also hose down the cow holding pens and milking parlor, and the runoff flows into the first of three ponds known as treatment lagoons. Maple Lane uses the lagoons, as do most Florida dairies, for storage and treatment of waste water. Years ago, the runoff from the third lagoon flowed into nearby Six Mile Creek. However, construction of the Tampa Bay Bypass Canal replaced the creek. Because the canal is a source for Tampa area drinking water, local environmental officials became concerned about the lagoon runoff damaging the water quality.