Dennis Areias: I only pumped away flood water to save my animals; and I didn’t kill any fish

Re “Dairyman faces cow waste dumping charges” (Front Page, Nov. 24): In regards to your recent article and the ensuing letter to the editor, there is misinformation that needs to be clarified.

I had an emergency situation with animals sick and dying (I lost 4 heifers) during the historic rains and flooding last winter.

I pumped flood water from my heifer corrals into a neighbor’s ditch (with his permission) and under the watchful eye of my canal company to make sure that what I was pumping remained on my neighbor's property – which it did.

Once the flood water drained off enough so that I could remove my heifers from the flooded conditions, I pumped the water back to my corrals. It never reached a canal, it never reached Salt Slough (it is miles away), and it never reached the San Joaquin River, or killed a single fish. It was pumped back to my property.

We have reached a place in California where a dairyman who is watching his animals suffer in flood conditions commits a crime because he displaces that flood water to a neighbor’s ditch, saving the animals. I did what I thought was humane without harming the environment. But I will face a fine, and I am working through the difficulty these charges are causing.

I hope this clarifies what happened and why.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Dennis Areias: I only pumped away flood water to save my animals; and I didn’t kill any fish."