Tony and Joshua Brown of Armstrong, Iowa, have been fined $76,000 by the EPA for violating the federal Clean Water Act. The brothers, doing business as Riverview Cattle, discharged pollutants from their cattle feedlot into the East Fork of the Des Moines River on 41 days, according to a judge’s ruling.

“We are encouraged by Judge Coughlin’s ruling,” said David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “Animal feedlot pollution is a serious threat to our nation’s waters and this ruling sends the right message that feedlot owners must comply with the law.”

The case dates to 2014 and EPA sought a penalty of up to $96,000. On June 17, 2014, EPA personnel conducted a compliance evaluation of the facility. A follow-up inspection was conducted on March 29 and 30, 2016. During the 2014 inspection, EPA observed wastewater and manure from an open manure pit flowing into an open surface inlet into a drainage tile system. The drainage tile flows to the East Fork of the Des Moines River. During the 2014 inspection, EPA sampled the discharging water and found elevated levels of pollutants in the discharge water. On May 15, 2015, EPA directed Riverview Cattle to come into compliance with the CWA.

Animal feeding operations that contain more than 300 head of cattle and discharge pollutants through man-made conveyances to streams and rivers are required to obtain a Clean Water Act permit and take measures to minimize or eliminate discharges of pollutants in stormwater runoff from their facilities.

According to the court ruling, Riverview Cattle repeatedly discharged stormwater containing pollutants through an underground pipe that drained into the river without having a permit. Despite Riverview’s assertion that pollutants never reached the river, Administrative Judge Christine Donelian Coughlin upheld EPA’s observations, modeling, and other evidence, and found the feedlot liable for Clean Water Act violations.

Runoff from animal feeding operations regularly contains bacteria, ammonia, and oxygen-depleting substances that are toxic to aquatic life and potentially harmful to people. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources determined that the East Fork of the Des Moines River is impaired for recreational use due to high levels of bacteria, in part resulting from runoff from feedlots.

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