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Pine Hill Egg Ranch in Ramona has to watch its waste water
1.5 million hens put out more than just eggs
A local who has lived in Rancho Santa Teresa Estates since 1988 recalled when it was a small egg ranch.
A chicken factory farm in Ramona is being ordered by regulators to manage its waste better. To some of its neighbors, the new plan amounts to an expansion of operations at Pine Hill Egg Ranch, which houses approximately 1.5 million chickens and produces around 800,000 eggs per day.
“I am not in favor of any plan that even remotely would allow them more access to air, soil or groundwater contamination,” reads a comment to the San Diego Water Board.
The ponds will be double-lined and housed in shade structures.
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, the board will consider adopting a tentative order to address previous violations of state water code and protect ground and surface water from discharges of waste to land. It requires off-site hauling of wastewater, prohibits composting, and mandates annual monitoring reports.
The order “does not serve as a permit for expanded or new agricultural operations nor is it a county major use permit,” the board’s report states.
But neighbors downwind and downstream are already worried about the 34 evaporation ponds that would be built to dispose of about 1,500 gallons of egg wash wastewater per day. Previously, the farm’s unsavory method of onsite disposal was to send the water through a leach field or to an unlined pond on the property.
Nearby residents of the 362-acre spread along Highway 78 have complained for years about odors, poultry dust, and water contamination from the facility, owned by the Demler Brothers. Many families have relied on private drinking wells and worry about unsafe nitrate levels.
In 2024, fire destroyed a building housing 70,000 chickens.
The ranch generates 375 tons of manure per week, a report says.
According to the California Egg Industry Association, San Diego is one of the top egg-producing counties in Southern California. Ramona has at least six egg ranches with many clustered along State Route 78 and Old Julian Highway. Pine Hill is the largest, with room for as many as two million birds.
It didn’t become a factory overnight, neighbors said. A report notes that it has operated since around 1960. A local who has lived in Rancho Santa Teresa Estates since 1988 recalled when it was a small egg ranch. Over time, it grew by roughly 160 acres, edging closer to homes. With that came tainted water, manure runoff and carcasses piling up.
The business has faced cease and desist orders for wastewater violations, unpermitted composting, and threats to Santa Teresa Valley Creek — which flows through or near both the ranch and neighboring homes — and Santa Maria Valley Groundwater Basin.
In 2023, the water board sampled egg wash wastewater with “industrial-strength” levels of organic nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen. Repeated leach field failures led to surface ponding of untreated waste and a notification from the county Department of Environmental Health and Quality about failed wastewater infrastructure.
In 2024, fire destroyed a building housing 70,000 chickens.
Promises to fix the problems often went nowhere, neighbors told the board, which has revised its initial study, tightening mitigation measures the ranch must take after reviewing the concerns of neighbors.
The evaporation ponds are one of those concerns, but officials say it will be different this time because the ponds will be double-lined and housed in shade structures. Given proper handling and disposal of animal waste and chicken carcasses, fumes and air quality impacts will be “less than significant.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Pine Hill Egg Ranch in Ramona has to watch its waste water
1.5 million hens put out more than just eggs
Pine Hill Egg Ranch in Ramona has to watch its waste water
1.5 million hens put out more than just eggs
A local who has lived in Rancho Santa Teresa Estates since 1988 recalled when it was a small egg ranch.
A chicken factory farm in Ramona is being ordered by regulators to manage its waste better. To some of its neighbors, the new plan amounts to an expansion of operations at Pine Hill Egg Ranch, which houses approximately 1.5 million chickens and produces around 800,000 eggs per day.
“I am not in favor of any plan that even remotely would allow them more access to air, soil or groundwater contamination,” reads a comment to the San Diego Water Board.
The ponds will be double-lined and housed in shade structures.
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, the board will consider adopting a tentative order to address previous violations of state water code and protect ground and surface water from discharges of waste to land. It requires off-site hauling of wastewater, prohibits composting, and mandates annual monitoring reports.
The order “does not serve as a permit for expanded or new agricultural operations nor is it a county major use permit,” the board’s report states.
But neighbors downwind and downstream are already worried about the 34 evaporation ponds that would be built to dispose of about 1,500 gallons of egg wash wastewater per day. Previously, the farm’s unsavory method of onsite disposal was to send the water through a leach field or to an unlined pond on the property.
Nearby residents of the 362-acre spread along Highway 78 have complained for years about odors, poultry dust, and water contamination from the facility, owned by the Demler Brothers. Many families have relied on private drinking wells and worry about unsafe nitrate levels.
In 2024, fire destroyed a building housing 70,000 chickens.
The ranch generates 375 tons of manure per week, a report says.
According to the California Egg Industry Association, San Diego is one of the top egg-producing counties in Southern California. Ramona has at least six egg ranches with many clustered along State Route 78 and Old Julian Highway. Pine Hill is the largest, with room for as many as two million birds.
It didn’t become a factory overnight, neighbors said. A report notes that it has operated since around 1960. A local who has lived in Rancho Santa Teresa Estates since 1988 recalled when it was a small egg ranch. Over time, it grew by roughly 160 acres, edging closer to homes. With that came tainted water, manure runoff and carcasses piling up.
The business has faced cease and desist orders for wastewater violations, unpermitted composting, and threats to Santa Teresa Valley Creek — which flows through or near both the ranch and neighboring homes — and Santa Maria Valley Groundwater Basin.
In 2023, the water board sampled egg wash wastewater with “industrial-strength” levels of organic nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen. Repeated leach field failures led to surface ponding of untreated waste and a notification from the county Department of Environmental Health and Quality about failed wastewater infrastructure.
In 2024, fire destroyed a building housing 70,000 chickens.
Promises to fix the problems often went nowhere, neighbors told the board, which has revised its initial study, tightening mitigation measures the ranch must take after reviewing the concerns of neighbors.
The evaporation ponds are one of those concerns, but officials say it will be different this time because the ponds will be double-lined and housed in shade structures. Given proper handling and disposal of animal waste and chicken carcasses, fumes and air quality impacts will be “less than significant.”