The owner of Kewaunee County’s Wakker Dairy Farm is facing a $225,000 monetary penalty for allegedly violating the State’s manure management laws.
The fine against Johannes Wakker was announced by Attorney General Josh Kaul in a Thursday announcement. Kaul noted, “Mismanagement of manure can lead to water contamination and endanger public health.” He added, “To protect safe and clean water, Wisconsin’s manure management laws must be followed.”
The official legal complaint includes an allegation of 20 occasions of manure being spread on Wakker’s farm running off of the application site or being discharged to state waters, such as a stream or wetland, through subsurface drains.
Wakker is alleged to have not timely submitted a report to the Department of Natural Resources to describe why manure was discharged into state waters.
Also included in the complaint is the mention of five occasions where Wakker allegedly failed to minimize or prevent adverse impacts of these discharges into the water.
A full list of charges can be found at the state’s Department of Justice webpage. The violations are alleged to have taken place from November 2017 to April 2020.
