Dairies Project Overview
When most people think about pollution, they envision automobile exhaust fumes and smoke billowing from factory pipes. But what about dairy farms? According to the State of California Water Quality Control Board, dairies are one of agriculture's most significant sources of water pollution. In fact, dairy waste threatens the quality of drinking water for up to 20 million Californians.
The pollution created by dairies comes primarily from manure—tons and tons of manure. Across California, dairy cows create more than 65 billion pounds of manure per year. Even when excess manure is used as fertilizer, this waste runs off fields into California's waterways, eventually contaminating aquatic habitats and public water sources. A major source of reactive organic gases, dairy manure also contributes to air pollution.
Sustainable Conservation's Dairies Project, a collaborative partnership of dairies, government agencies, and environmentalists, works to find cost–effective solutions to managing dairy waste.
Innovations in Waste Management
To help reduce the harmful impact of manure on the environment, the Dairies Project has promoted several innovative technologies and practices:
- Introducing methane digesters that treat manure while extracting methane gas for electricity generation
- Using net metering, a money–saving process where an electric meter runs in reverse when a digester produces more energy than the farmer needs
- Offering convenient composting sites for farms to convert agricultural waste into soil nutrients
- Having nutrient management systems reduce groundwater contamination from manure
Since the inception of the Dairies Project in 2000, dozens of dairies have implemented these practices on their farms and more than 1,000 dairy farmers have completed an environmental stewardship course. Our goal is to expand this progress throughout California by 2005.
