Wood County dairy warned about manure near well

5/17/2007

CUSTAR, Ohio - Reyskens Dairy LLC was put on notice this week by the Wood County Health Department that it will be subject to "escalated enforcement action" if it is caught applying liquid manure within 100 feet of its water well again.

The well is on the north side of Cygnet Road in Wood County's Jackson Township.

According to a letter by Brad Espen, the county's environmental health director, the dairy was caught last Thursday applying liquid manure about 25 feet from its well. Mr. Espen said the owner-operator, Mark Van de Heijning, told him he didn't think it mattered because it was the dairy's own well.

Mr. Espen said he explained that the dairy's well is connected to an aquifer that many other people use.

"From our standpoint, it's serious. They need to maintain the proper setback from their drinking water well," Mr. Espen said. "It's all the same aquifer."

He said Mr. Van de Heijning assured him yesterday it would not happen again.

Mr. Espen said his office has received odor complaints, but said this violation was the first that had been filed against Reyskens.

Reyskens is regulated by the Ohio Department of Agriculture as a concentrated animal feeding operation.