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Your manure spill contigency list should include a vacuum tanker
If you really have a manure spill, who do you call? It should be right there in your nutrient management cintgency plan, but does it include someone with a vacuum tanker? Dennis Nuhn, president of Nuhn Industries, has been saying that for years and others in the farm community are starting to agree with him. Nuhn calls his idea the Farm Spill Resopnse Network. It would be a list of people with vacuum tankers, including tankers used to evacuate septic systems. In the event of a spill, a farmer would be able to contact someone on that list close to the farm for the fastest response. "Each farmer should have at least three names," Nuhn says, "because there's no gaurantee they're going to be home." Nuhn says he has been called at work by farmers with spills looking for people with vacuum tankers, especially those equipped with flexible hydraulic arms. "We;ve called people with this type of equipment and they dealt with the spill and in both cases the farmers called the ministry (of environment) and they weren't charged because the ministry was impressed with how well they dealt with it." One of the first questions callers to the ministry's Spill Action Centre (1-800-268-6060) are asked is, "How are you dealing with the spill?" Although tankers with hydraulic arms are at the top of Nuhn's list, other vacuum tankers will do the job, including vacuum trucks operated by companies that empty septic tanks. The advantage of tractor-operated vacuum tankers is they can get to remote farm locations which trucks may not be able to reach. The problem so far has been compiling the list and then finding a place to post it. Sam Bradshaw, environmental communications specialist woth Ontario Pork, says his organization is interested in the idea because what you do in the event of a spill is "a major part of due dilligance." Bradshaw says he won't like to see an agency take over the list, "maybe the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, certainly the Ministry of the Environment. It would be good if they had this list because the first thing you're supposed to do is phone the Spills Action Centre, so it would be excellent if the MOE had this list if they kept it current. Nuhn says he would be willing to compile a list of vacuum tanker owners acroos the province if they contact his office by phone (519-393-6284) or by e-mail (nuhnind@nuhn.ca). This list could be posted on his website (http://www.nuhn.ca) and on several others, including cattle, dairy, and pork organiztaions in the province as well as agriculture and environment ministries. In cases where the farmer doesn;t have internet access, it could be mailed or faxed. It could also be posted at ministry offices and in feed and farm machinery outlets. Sally Mabon, land and nutirent resources co-ordinator with Elite Swine in Guelph, says she is responsible for manure storage and handling at about 125 nursery and finiching operations. "If there was a network, I would send that information out," she says, "Look, here's the network. Look for the closest to you and include it in your contigency plan." She says that if there was a spill on one of her farms she is responsible for, "I'd be on site dealing with the spill and I'd use the network." Michaela Wyke, an environmental officer with the ministry's Spills Action Centre, says that they get very few calls from farmers. If the centre staff need to, she says, they contact municipalities, public works and fire departments who have booms and spill containment kits. Environmental officer Ken Tuininga, of Environment Canada, says 19 spills were reported on Ontario farms in 2003. "Farmers are doing a good job," he says. "We knew that there are more spills than that," he said, adding taht, "small one particularly go unoticed." He says numbers are not in for 2004, although he expects the number to be higher than last year's. Tuininga says that having a vacuum tanker on site would minimize the damage. "If it hits the ditch, you could get it before it gets into the creek." Nuhn reports that a pork producer in Southern Indiana had a major spill handled by one of his vacuum tankers with an arm. "They had to bulldoze three dams into the stream to contain the spill," he says adding to that, the vacuum tanker was on site for two weeks, 24 hours a day sucking up the spill. "Again," Nuhn says, "the farmer wasn't charged," because officials were so impressed with how the spill was handled. Nuhn says vacuum tanker owners would have to set fees for their work, although he guesses that there would be an initial fee plus an hourly rate for time spent cleaning up the spill. BF
More information on the Manure Spill Response Network List, click here. |
