A Mountain View County farmer is concerned about cattle manure being dumped near his property, but Alberta Environment officials say it's not an issue.
Bill Adams says cattle manure has been dumped on a closed road allowance against his property two miles south of Carstairs for several months, and he is concerned his cattle could catch diseases from it.
The 82-year-old said out-of-province trucks have been dumping cattle manure on the Mountain View County-owned land since September.
“The trucks come from Saskatchewan, B.C., northern Alberta, you know, where there's anthrax, there's mad cow,” said Adams, adding it's being dumped approximately 100 feet from a creek on his property.
“They've been dumping in the ditch and if you get a lot of rain and snow it's all going to wash right down into the creek, because it's got nowhere else to go but in there,” he said. “My cows drink out of the creek.”
He made a complaint to Alberta Environment, which was forwarded to the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB). He also made a complaint to Mountain View County.
A county bylaw officer as well as an inspector from the NRCB attended the site on March 16.
“They found that there was very little manure on the road allowance and there was no issues to water bodies or concerns to runoff into any creeks nearby,” said Todd Urquhart, compliance assurance lead for Alberta Environment at its Red Deer office.
“The NRCB file is closed and of course there is no environmental issues that were identified by the NRCB officer,” he said.
Adams has owned the property for more than 40 years and said he doesn't have a problem with local manure being dumped near his property, just non-local.
“I haul cattle too and you can't dump manure wherever you want,” he said. “When they started washing the liners out with a hose there I had enough of it. It's not a very nice situation.”
The Millers own the property on the other side of the closed road allowance and say they don't have a problem with manure being dumped there.
Jane Fulton, manager of agricultural services with the county, said a county bylaw officer is monitoring the site cleanup and working with the adjacent landowners.
“The concerns we have received would appear to be localized between two neighbours on the road allowance that was closed by bylaw in 1994,” said Fulton.
When asked if there is a bylaw to address manure dumping in the county, she said “there are various pieces of legislation that could apply.”
"The trucks come from Saskatchewan, B.C., northern Alberta, you know, where there's anthrax, there's mad cow."Bill Adams
