Understanding Nutrient Management Plans
Learning Modules for Permit Writers and Inspectors
Discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) may contain pollutants that negatively impact water quality. CAFOs that discharge are required to have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. All NPDES-permitted CAFOs must implement a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP), and non-permitted Large CAFOs must implement nutrient management planning.
This series of six modules introduces nutrient management planning concepts for environmental permitting and compliance staff involved in the regulation of CAFOs. The information provided can also help nutrient management planners or CAFO operators understand the expectations for NMPs developed to meet regulatory requirements.
Module 1: Nutrient Management Plans for CAFOs: An Overview
This module provides definitions of NMPs and CAFOs and describes the regulatory framework and history of CAFOs and NMPs, and what must be included in an NMP.
Module 2: Terms of the Nutrient Management Plan: The Basics
This module presents the nine minimum measures of NMPs for permitted CAFOs and describes what terms of the NMP are, how terms of the NMP are included in permits, and how terms of the NMP are changed.
Module 3: Nutrient Management Plan Terms: Minimum Measures
This module discusses the nine minimum measures of NMPs for permitted CAFOs, what terms of the NMP are associated with these measures, and how the terms of the NMP can be expressed in NPDES permits.
Module 4: Land Application Basics
This module presents the regulatory requirements and technical standards for land application protocols in a permitted CAFO’s NMP. This module also discusses how land application rates are impacted by the form, source, method, timing, and placement of manure.
Module 5: Terms of the Nutrient Management Plan: Protocols for Land Application Part 1
This module introduces concepts of soil fertility and how it affects manure land application rates. This module also describes methods for assessing the risk of nutrient loss from land application sites and methods for determining land application rates.
Module 6: Terms of the Nutrient Management Plan: Protocols for Land Application Part 2
This module describes the linear and narrative rate approaches to developing site-specific terms of the NMP for land application of manure at a permitted CAFO.