Fact Sheet

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Fact Sheet 22 Land Application Setback and
Buffer Requirements for NPDES Permitted Large
CAFOs

• By Chris Henry, University of Nebraska

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What is Required?

• Large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation
  (CAFO) owners/operators are required to implement
  setbacks, buffers, or an alternative conservation
  practice on all fields to which manure is
  applied.

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The Rule

• Large CAFO owners/operators may not apply manure,
  litter, or process water closer than 100 feet to
  any down gradient surface waters, open tile
  intake structures, sinkholes, agricultural
  wellheads, or other conduits to surface waters.

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The Options

• 100-foot setback
• 35-foot vegetative buffer
• Alternative Conservation Practice (ACP)

Choose One
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Definition of Setback

• A specified distance from surface waters or
  potential conduits to surface waters where
  manure, litter, and process wastewater many not
  be land applied

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Setbacks

• For all fields that receive manure, a CAFO cannot
  apply manure or effluent within 100 feet of
• Surface waters.
• Open tile intake structures.
• Sinkholes.
• Agricultural wellheads.
• Other conduits to surface waters.

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Definition of Vegetative Buffer

• A narrow, permanent strip of dense perennial
  vegetation established parallel to the contours
  of and perpendicular to the dominant slope of
  the fieldfor the purposes of slowing water
  runoff, enhancing water infiltration, and
  minimizing the risk of any potential nutrients or
  pollutants leaving the field and reaching
  surface waters

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Vegetative Buffers

• A minimum of 35 feet of permanent vegetation must
  be established around open tile intakes,
  sinkholes, agricultural wellheads, and other
  conduits to surface waters for fields that
  receive manure.
• These vegetated buffers cannot receive manure or
  effluent.
• USDA-NRCS has a cost share program for installing
  stream buffers.

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Definition of Alternative Conservation Practice
(ACP)

• Alternative method or field-specific condition
  that provides pollutant reductions equivalent or
  better than the reductions that would be achieved
  by the 100-foot setback

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ACP Standard

• The state regulatory agency can approve an
  alter-native conservation practice that is
  equivalent or better than the reductions achieved
  by the 100-foot setback.
• CAFO owners can request that setback requirements
  be waived if they can demonstrate that a setback
  or buffer is not necessary because field-specific
  con-ditions will provide pollutant reductions
  equivalent or better than the reductions that
  would be achieved by the 100-foot setback.

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ACP Standard (cont'd)

• Types of ACPs that might be acceptable
• Manure injection
• Immediate incorporation into the soil
• A site planted entirely to alfalfa or perennial
  vegetation may be considered equivalent to a
  buffer.
• Check with your state regulatory authority.
• If runoff cannot reach waters of the U.S. or must
  travel a great distance, the setback requirement
  may be waived (state specific).

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Land Area Needed to Comply with Setbacks and
Vegetative Buffers
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Land Area Needed to Comply with Setbacks and
Vegetative Buffers (cont'd)

• For an 80-acre field with 6 tile outlets and
  1,600 feet of stream intersecting the site, the
  area removed from manure application would be

For observing 100-ft setbacks
6 tile outlets x 0.72 acres 4.32 acres
1,600 ft of stream x 2 sides of stream x 0.23
acres/100 ft 7.36 acres
Total 4.32 acres 7.36 acres 11.68 acres
About 15 of the land application site is not
available for manure application.
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Land Area Needed to Comply with Setbacks and
Vegetative Buffers (cont'd)
For an 80-acre field with 6 tile outlets and
1,600 feet of stream intersecting the site, the
area removed from manure application would be
For observing 35-ft vegetative buffers
6 tile outlets x 0.09 acres 0.54 acres
1,600 ft of stream x 2 sides of stream x 0.08
acres/100 ft 2.56 acres
Total 0.54 acres 2.56 acres 3.1 acres
About 4 of the land application site is not
available for manure application.
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Applying the CAFO Setback Rule to an Example Land
Application Site
The following land application site has

• Waterways.
• Broad base terraces.
• Up gradient wells.
• Down gradient wells.
• Tile intakes.
• A drainage ditch.
• Road ditches.
• A stream intersecting the field.

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What is Considered a Conduit to Surface Water
in the Example Farm?
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Either a 100 setback OR a 35 permanent
vegetated buffer is required for all CAFO land
application ground.
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What alternative conservation practices are
allowed in your state?
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Land Area Needed for Setbacks and
BuffersExample Site
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What Else Might be Considered a Conduit to
Surface Water?
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Is This a Conduit to Surface Water?
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Is This a Conduit to Surface Water? (cont'd)
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Is This a Conduit to Surface Water? (cont'd)
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What Next?

• Check with your state regulatory authority about
  what is considered a conduit to surface water
  and what ACPs are allowed in your state.
• Evaluate the impact that setbacks, buffers, and
  ACP will have on each of your available land
  application sites.
• Will you will have adequate land area for your
  manure?
• Develop your Nutrient Management Plan.

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Author
Chris Henry, an Extension Engineer at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, can be reach-ed
at chenry1_at_unl.edu.
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Reviewers

• The author wishes to thank Ralph Summers, EPA
  Region 7 Gary Buttermore and Alan Rosenboom,
  Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and
  Claudia Elkins, Kansas Department of Health and
  Environment, for their review of this fact sheet.

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For More Information
Environmental Regulations Related ResourcesEPA
CAFO Phone Line202-564-0766 http//www.epa.gov/np
des/caforule/To obtain copy of
regulations http//www.epa.gov/npdes/afo/statecont
acts/To obtain state environmental agency
contacts http//www.epa.gov/agriculture/animals.ht
ml/To obtain compliance assistance information
from EPA http//cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/contacts.cfm?p
rogram_id7typeREGION/To obtain EPA Region
Animal Feeding Operation contacts
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For More Information (cont'd)

• Land-Grant University Resources
• The local contact for your land-grant university
  Cooperative Extension program is listed in the
  phone book under "Cooperative Extension" or
  "(county name) County Cooperative Extension."
• http//www.reeusda.gov/1700/statepartners/usa.htm/
  To obtain state Cooperative Extension contacts
• http//www.lpes/To view the Livestock and
  Poultry Environ-mental Stewardship (LPES)
  curriculum resources

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For More Information (cont'd)

• USDA Farm Bill Resources
• To obtain more information about the Farm Bill
  2002, see the USDA-NRCS website at the following
  URL http//www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/20
  02/.
• You can also contact your local USDA Service
  Center, listed in the phone book under "U.S.
  Department of Agriculture," or your local
  conservation district.

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Funding

• This material is based upon work supported by
  the Cooperative State Research, Education, and
  Extension Service, U.S. Department of
  Agriculture the U.S. Environmental Protection
  Agency, the National Agriculture Assistance
  Center and the University of Nebraska
  Cooperative Extension, University of
  Nebraska-Lincoln, under Cooperative Agreement
  Number 97-EXCA-3-0642.