Water Quality and Animal Feeding Operations in Arizona: A Producer's Notebook

Arizona Department of Agriculture

The Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA) established the Agriculture Consultation and Training (ACT) Program in 1994.  ACT is an innovative compliance assistance program strongly supported by Arizona’s diverse agricultural interests.  ACT responds to requests from the agricultural community to provide assistance on compliance with state laws, rules, regulations, policies, and federal mandates.  Upon request, on-site visits are conducted to determine potential violations and if applicable, written corrective recommendations are provided.  There is no regulatory pressure to address violations through this program.  The purpose of the program is to inform producers of the laws and help them to achieve compliance without using regulatory enticements. 

ACT began by addressing the Federal Worker Protection Standards and has since branched out to cover other regulatory issues administered by ADA.  Now, through an Interagency Service Agreement (ISA) signed with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in July 2000, ACT is developing a compliance assistance program for Arizona Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs).  AFO Owners will be able to request an on-site visit to determine if actions will be needed to achieve compliance with water quality regulations.  ACT will be looking for the same areas of compliance as ADEQ inspectors (see last section) but through the on-site visits, AFO owners will be able to address potential problems.  In addition, if a regulatory inspection has resulted in a notice of correction or a notice of violation, ACT can assist AFOs in finding assistance to address the issues.

ACT is not affiliated with on-going enforcement activity within ADA or any other regulatory agency and detected violations are not made available to regulatory personnel except in cases of imminent danger where human health and welfare are concerned and the violation is not addressed immediately.

After visiting a site, ACT personnel provide the requestor with a detailed evaluation report. The report describes information discussed during the visit as well as offers corrective recommendations, if applicable. 

ADA                                          1-800-294-0308
1688 West Adams                      602/542-0972
Phoenix, Arizona 85007             Fax: 602/364-0830 

Page updated 7/02

Arizona
Dept. of
Agriculture