Gordondale Farms is a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) located near Nelsonville, WI. Groundwater in the area around Gordondale Farms is vulnerable to nitrate pollution due to the area’s sandy soils. In 2018, the Portage County Health Department tested private drinking water wells in Nelsonville and found that almost half were contaminated with high levels of nitrates. The ongoing water quality crisis has led local residents to call for increased accountability and oversight of large livestock operations like Gordondale Farms.

In 2020, a wastewater permit for Gordondale became the subject of a legal challenge because it did not do enough to protect local drinking water. The challenge was brought by a group of local residents represented by MEA. Clean Wisconsin also challenged the permit.

In April 2022, the DNR proposed modifying the permit to include the groundwater monitoring requirements our clients were asking for. The terms of the draft permit required Gordondale Farms to monitor groundwater near fields upgradient of Nelsonville. This modification is necessary because the recharge zone for Nelsonville’s drinking water includes fields on which the farm spreads its manure. Community members who attended a public hearing on the draft permit in May testified by a 10-to-1 margin in favor of DNR’s proposed changes. Those changes were then incorporated into the final permit.

Gordondale’s permit was the third CAFO permit to incorporate conditions and authority outlined in a landmark 2021 Supreme Court decision. The decision affirmed the DNR’s authority to use commonsense permit conditions such as groundwater monitoring and limits on herd size to address nitrate contamination and other threats to water quality.