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Information Sheet IS-4 Reissued Waste Discharge Requirements General Order R5-2013-0122 Existing Milk Cow Dairies milk produced by dairies have not kept up with the rising cost of doing business. Increased charges for producing and purchasing cattle feed and depressed milk prices have been the dominant factors in this decline, although regulatory compliance costs have also been a factor. The Board estimates that at this time about 1,300 dairy operations are covered by the 2007 General Order and will be subject to the reissued Dairy General Order. The herd sizes at these dairy operations vary as operators strive to maintain a consistent milk production. Maintaining consistent milk production requires a dairy operator to manage the herd by continually producing calves, some of which eventually replace the dairy's producing herd over time, while excess stock are marketed for beef production or herd replacement elsewhere. Professionals at the University of California Davis estimate that the normal variation in California dairy herd sizes ranges from about 10 to 15 percent. For the purposes of this Order, existing herd size is defined as the maximum number of mature dairy cows reported in the ROWDs that were submitted in response to the ROWD Request Letter, plus or minus 15 percent (to account for the normal variation in herd sizes). An increase in the number of mature dairy cows of more than 15 percent is considered an expansion, and the expanded dairy will be required to file a new ROWD to obtain regulatory coverage under a different General Order or an individual order. As stated above, neither the 2007 General Order nor this Order purports to be a NPDES permit. Dairies that have a discharge requiring coverage under a NPDES permit must obtain coverage under Revised Order R5-2010-118, Revised Waste Discharge Requirements/NPDES Permit CAGO15001 (as revised by Order R5-2011-0091). As Order R5-20011-0091 simply modifies Order R5-2010-0118, R5-2011-0091 does not exist as a separate order and the Expiration Date of Order R5-2010-0118 has not changed. For a variety of reasons, the Central Valley Water Board may also determine that an individual dairy facility is not appropriately regulated under the Dairy General Order, and may require such a facility to be regulated under individual WDRs. RATIONALE FOR ISSUING A GENERAL ORDER The Central Valley Water Board has the authority to regulate waste discharges that could affect the quality of the waters of the state under Division 7 of the Water Code. The Board regulates most discharges by prescribing waste discharge requirements (including both waste discharge requirements issued under state law and waste discharge requirements issued under the federal Clean Water Act) or by issuing conditional waivers. All confined animal facilities (as defined in Cal. Code Regs., tit. 27, § 20164), including dairies, are subject to the Board's regulatory authority. Water Code section 13263(1) describes the criteria that the Board uses to determine whether a group of facilities should be regulated under a general order (as opposed to individual orders). These criteria include: The discharges are produced by the same or similar types of operations,