The Clean Water Act authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
develop technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) for the control of
pollutant discharges from point source categories. Certain animal feeding operations (AFOs) are
defined as point sources. The existing ELG for the Feedlots Point Source Category (40 CFR Part
412) covers these point sources. Section 301(d) of the Clean Water Act directs EPA to
periodically review existing ELGs and revise them when necessary. As part of the EPA-U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) national unified strategy to minimize the water quality and
public health impacts of AFOs, EPA is reviewing the Feedlots ELG and expects to revise the
existing effluent guidelines covering AFOs. This overview addresses the methodology for
estimating potential compliance costs for the swine and poultry (turkey, laying hen, and broiler)
sectors of AFOs.
The initial steps in the process of estimating potential compliance costs for the swine and poultry
sectors include gathering and analyzing data on swine and poultry AFOs to establish a baseline
picture. The baseline includes the amount of manure and wastewater produced, the pollution
control and management practices in place, current land application practices, and current state
requirements. Based on these data, EPA identifies possible new regulatory requirements that
may be imposed through revision of the ELGs. These new requirements are typically grouped
into several possible regulatory options. These regulatory options sometimes specify a limit on
process wastewater discharges (e.g., zero discharge) and might also require specific best
management practices, or BMPs (e.g., development of a nutrient management plan).