Central Sands Dairy must pay $245,000 over wastewater violations
The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Central Sands Dairy, LLC is required to pay $245,000 under an agreement resolving a civil environmental enforcement action. The action concerns alleged breaches of Wisconsin’s laws governing wastewater discharges.
Central Sands is a dairy farm based in Nekoosa. According to the state, the operation used manure and process wastewater as fertilizer on fields in Juneau County. The Wisconsin Department of Justice described the payment as part of the resolution of the case involving the farm’s waste-handling practices.
State authorities alleged that manure from Central Sands entered groundwater. They said the discharge did not comply with Wisconsin’s groundwater-quality standards. The allegations concern the effect of the farm’s waste management on groundwater rather than a reported discharge of another type of material.
The state also alleged that Central Sands applied manure to its fields improperly. In addition, authorities said the dairy did not upgrade a manure-storage facility and did not provide a plan required by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The resolution includes a requirement concerning the farm’s waste-storage facilities. Central Sands must abandon its waste-storage facilities at its large, concentrated animal feeding operations by July 1, 2027.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice announced the action on Friday. The allegations were presented as part of the civil enforcement case; the announcement did not provide a separate account of the farm’s response or specify how the $245,000 would be allocated.
