On Wednesday, KyCGA Executive Director Laura Knoth spoke before the Kentucky Interim Joint Ag Committee in Frankfort regarding TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) standards being developed on the Floyd Fork water shed in five counties around Louisville.

This issue has greatly evolved over the past few months. Staff has participated in a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the development of this regulatory mechanism. At this time, the greatest issue relating to this process is the decision of what data is imputed into a model that is designed to predict each source of pollution (or “nutrient load”). The data has improved greatly, but still is not totally accurate. Also of great concern are the assumptions that are made by the modelers to simplify their upload of data (for example: incorrect distribution of land use by farmers and the omission of de-nitrification as a form of nutrient loss).

To enhance our contribution to the TAC, board member Richard Preston of Glendale has been added as a member. We have also added representatives from KY Small Grain Growers Association.

It is vital that we get it right for agriculture as the Floyd’s Fork TMDL is developed. Once completed, KY Division of Water intends to replicate this model as they draft more than 20 TMDL’s across Kentucky over the next few years.

Source: Article courtesy of the Kentucky Corn Growers Association