Water & nutrients
How California dairies are regulated for groundwater and surface water: the Central Valley General Order, nutrient management, sampling, inspections and reporting.
- Discharge monitoring and priority reporting on Central Valley dairies
What the Central Valley dairy order requires when storm water, tailwater or wastewater leaves a dairy: sampling, the 24-hour report, the two-week written report and the annual storm water section.
- Nitrogen transformations in soil: from manure to nitrate
How the nitrogen in dairy manure changes form in soil — mineralization, nitrification, volatilization, denitrification and leaching — and why it matters for groundwater and nutrient plans.
- Production area and field inspections under the Central Valley dairy order
What Central Valley dairies must inspect, how often and what to record: ponds and freeboard, storm events, monthly photos and land application areas.
- Sampling harvested forage and plant tissue for nutrient budgets
Why Central Valley dairies sample corn silage, winter forage and alfalfa at harvest, what the lab measures, and how to take samples that represent the field.
- The Central Valley dairy General Order, from 2007 to the 2026 remand
How the Central Valley Water Board's waste discharge requirements for dairies began in 2007, what the 2013 reissue requires, and what the State Water Board changed in September 2026.
- The WDR compliance binder: what a Central Valley dairy keeps on file
A section-by-section guide to the records a Central Valley dairy keeps under the dairy General Order: plans, maps, sampling, inspections, reports and emergency information.
