This rule establishes best management practices that govern land application of manure on land application areas. The land application of manure at each land application area shall be conducted to utilize nutrients at agronomic rates, and to minimize nutrient runoff to waters of the state and shall be recorded in the operating record in accordance with rule 901:10-2-16 of the Administrative Code. The discharge of manure to waters of the state from a facility as a result of application of that manure by the facility to land application areas is a discharge from that facility subject to NPDES requirements except where it is an agricultural stormwater discharge. Where manure has been applied in accordance with this rule and an approved manure management plan, a precipitation-related discharge of manure from land application areas is agricultural stormwater discharge.
(G) General criteria for frozen and snow-covered ground. In addition to complying with all of the criteria in paragraphs (A) to (F) of this rule, the following actions are required for surface application of manure to land with frozen or snow-covered ground. If manure can be injected or incorporated then the land application site is not frozen or snow covered and therefore subject to paragraphs (A) to (F) of this rule.
The owner or operator shall comply with rule 901:10-2-08 of the Administrative Code and this rule and use best efforts to avoid surface application of manure to frozen or snow covered ground by ensuring enough manure storage capacity by November of each year for a minimum of one hundred twenty to one hundred eighty days.
Manure injection or manure incorporation performed within twenty-four hours at the land application site is the preferred alternative to surface application of manure.
Solid manure with less than fifty per cent moisture shall be stockpiled at the land application site in lieu of manure application on frozen or snow covered ground.
Surface application of manure on frozen or snow-covered ground is prohibited unless performed in accordance with all of the following requirements in paragraph (G)(1) of this rule.
(1) Application. (a) Prior approval for each surface application of manure shall be obtained from the director or his designated representative.(b) Except as required by paragraph (G)(1)(g) of this rule, the application rate is limited to ten wet tons per acre for solid manure with more than fifty per cent moisture.(c) Except as required by paragraph (G)(1)(g) of this rule, the application rate is limited to five thousand gallons per acre for liquid manure.(d) Applications are to be made on land with at least ninety per cent surface residue cover at the time of application such as good quality hay or pasture field, all corn grain residue remaining after harvest, and all small grain residue cover remaining after harvest. Vegetation or residue shall not be completely covered by ice or snow at the time of application.(e) Manure ponding shall be prevented.(f) Manure shall not be applied on more than twenty contiguous acres. Contiguous areas for application are to be separated by a break of at least two hundred feet. Areas that are furthest from streams, ditches, waterways, and\or surface waters are to be utilized in preference to areas with the potential for surface water runoff.(g) Setbacks from surface waters and conduits to surface waters, (including grassed waterways and surface drains) shall be a minimum of two hundred feet. Setbacks shall have at least ninety per cent surface residue cover and vegetation or residue shall not be completely covered by ice or snow at the time of application.(h) For application fields with slopes greater than six percent, manure shall be applied in alternating strips sixty to two hundred feet wide generally on the contour, or in the case that the field is managed in contour strips with alternative strips in grass or legume, manure shall only be applied on alternative strips. Manure application rates shall be determined for each separate application strip area and not the area of the entire application field.(i) Any manure application with phosphorus exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds per acre is prohibited.(2) Monitoring. (a) Concentrated field surface drainage and tile outlets shall be visually monitored at the conclusion of manure application and periodically afterwards when weather, temperature increase, snowmelt and rainfall are likely to produce manure runoff. Periodic visual monitoring shall continue until manure is assimilated into the application field and is no longer likely to discharge into waters of the state.(b) Upon discovering a discharge to waters of the state, the owner or operator shall notify the department within two hours of detection of the runoff event.(c) In addition to the visual monitoring and reporting in this paragraph, the owner or operator shall collect representative grab samples from the discharges of land applied manure into waters of the state at the point that the discharge enters waters of the state (i.e. concentrated field surface runoff or field tile outlet discharge prior to entrance to surface waters) and have the sample analyzed for ammonia nitrogen levels.(d) The owner or operator shall:(i) Collect the sample within thirty minutes of the first knowledge of the discharge; or(ii) If the sampling in that period is inappropriate due to dangerous weather conditions, the owner or operator shall collect the sample as soon as possible after suitable conditions occur and shall document the reason for delay.(e) The owner or operator shall report the results of the discharge event to the department within fourteen days of occurrence. The report shall, at a minimum, contain the sample results, describe the reason for the discharge, the location, estimate of quantity and duration of the discharge, and duration of the precipitation leading up to the event, any measures taken to clean up and eliminate the discharge, and copies of land application records. Laboratory results not available at the time of the report submitted shall be submitted to the department within five days of receipt.(f) If the ammonia nitrogen level in a water quality sample is determined to be twenty-six mg\L or greater in the discharge at the point it enters waters of the state, then additional surface application of manure to frozen and \or snow covered ground is prohibited on the field where the runoff event occurred.(g) In the event that an owner or operator complies with all of the requirements of paragraph (G) of this rule and runoff enters waters of the state resulting in ammonia nitrogen level in a sample determined to be twenty-six mg \L or greater in three application events authorized in accordance with paragraph (G)(1)(a) of this rule, then additional surface application of manure to frozen and/or snow covered ground shall be prohibited for the duration of the permit.