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                  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                  Office of Inspector General

                  At  a   Glance
                                                         11-P-0274
                                                      June 23, 2011
                                                              Catalyst for Improving the Environment


Why We Did This Review

The Office of Inspector General
received a Hotline complaint
claiming that U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Region 4 was not
adequately overseeing Georgia's
Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operation (CAFO) program. In
response, we evaluated EPA's
management controls over
Georgia's National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) CAFO program.

Background
The Clean Water Act (CWA)
prohibits the discharge of
pollutants from any point source
to navigable waters of the
United States unless authorized
under an NPDES permit issued
by EPA or an authorized state.
The CWA defines CAFOs as
point sources. A CAFO is a
facility where more than 1,000
animal units are confined and
fed for a total of 45 days or more
in any 12-month period.




For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs and
Management at (202) 566-2391.

The full report is at:
www.epa.gov/oiq/reports/20117
20110623-11-P-0274.pdf
Region 4 Should Strengthen Oversight of
Georgia's Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operation Program
 What We Found
We found significant deficiencies in the Georgia Environmental Protection
Division's (GEPD's) management and Region 4's oversight of the CAFO
program. Region 4 gave Georgia's CAFO program a positive assessment
because GEPD reported that all 48 of the CAFOs with liquid manure waste
systems were inspected in 2010. However, our review identified a number of
deficiencies for 34 of the 48 CAFOs Georgia inspected. CAFOs were operating
without NPDES permits or Nutrient Management Plans, inspection reports were
missing required components, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture was
not assessing compliance with permit conditions. For its part, Region 4 did not
assure that these components of Georgia's CAFO program met the requirements
outlined in the 2007 memorandum of agreement between Region 4 and GEPD.
As a result, there is a significant risk that the Georgia's CAFO program is failing
to protect water quality. These facilities raise concerns about water quality
because the animals produce large quantities of waste—many times more waste
than humans annually. The discharge of waste into surface water is associated
with a range of human health and ecological impacts, and contributes to
degradation of the nation's surface waters.
 What We Recommend
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, EPA Region 4, implement
controls as stated in the 2007 memorandum of agreement between EPA
Region 4 and GEPD to require enforcement data tracking between GEPD and
Region 4, assure CAFO inspections are accurate and complete, and assure that
GEPD takes timely and appropriate enforcement actions.

The region agreed with our recommendation. We agree that its actions meet the
intent of the recommendation.

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