With strong support from Iowa livestock farmers, the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) last week unanimously approved livestock rules designed to sync the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) rules with the federal rules required by a work plan established last year by the Iowa DNR and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Under the work plan, the DNR is conducting inspections on approximately 8,500 Iowa livestock farms over the next four years to determine if they meet Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements. The DNR has started to conduct inspections on all farms larger than 1,000 animal units and risk-based site inspections on farms larger than 300 animal units depending on the proximity to streams and other factors.

Another layer

The new federal rules add another layer to Iowa’s already extensive livestock ...