This is good news as the stables are much too close to the American River Parkway to not be well-controlled.
Cal Expo to control stable waste
By Denny Walsh - Bee Staff Writer Published 12:00 am PST Friday, December 1, 2006
Waste runoff from the stable area at Cal Expo will be monitored by water quality regulators under the terms of a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit.
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, alleged in the 2003 suit that the American River and areas around it were being systematically polluted by materials incidental to the operation of the horse stables.
Urine, manure, soil and soap were flowing into a storm drain system that dumps into the river, and rainwater first flowed through piles of manure and waste and then into the storm drain, according to the suit.
Cal Expo, a state agency that owns the property, along with the Sacramento Harness Association, which manages the stables, settled the suit by agreeing to obtain a permit to operate the stables as required by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Cal Expo also agreed to cooperate with the board "in the development of a storm water management plan," and agreed "to comply with a program of monitoring, testing, and reporting ... as it relates to the permitting requirements."
Cal Expo further agreed to send copies of the test results to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance for the next two years.
U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. approved the agreement Thursday and ordered the case dismissed.
