How Do Animal Feed Lots Contribute To Water Pollution

Fauna Wastes equally a Source of Drinking Water Contamination

Animal production facilities can be a source of drinking water contagion if wastes are non properly managed. Microorganisms , nitrogen, and phosphorus are the prime number contaminants from manure. There are various types of microorganisms present in fecal waste product that cause severe illness and affliction if ingested. Excessive amounts of nitrogen, in the nitrate class, which is converted to the nitrite form in the body, will foreclose oxygen from binding to hemoglobin in the claret. Infants are especially sensitive to excess nitrite and can suffer methemoglobinemia, or "Bluish Babe Syndrome".

Farmers collect liquid manure in catchment ponds or lagoons where information technology can be degraded by anaerobic leaner, sunlight, and water. Anaerobic bacteria promote the decomposition of carbon-containing compounds into carbon dioxide and marsh gas, also every bit nitrogen into ammonia and ammonium. Farmers often use the lagoon liquid, which is partially treated waste, as fertilizer in order to take advantage of the nutrients in the manure (3). Leaner and other microorganisms are filtered out by the soil, simply tin enter surface water resources in run-off if waste matter application rates are high and the soil becomes saturated. Saturation of soil can also contribute to contagion of ground water sources. Contamination may result if waste material water is practical to fields located side by side to a stream or lake. Contamination also occurs when lagoons leak. Liquid seeping from a lagoon appears to pose a homo health concern only if shallow drinking h2o wells are located immediately downhill from the lagoon (3). Often, agricultural regions depend upon sunken individual wells for drinking water, and since federal regulations do non crave monitoring of private wells, it is up to the owner or user to test thier drinking water.

There are many protective practices that can can be employed in order to decrease the possibility of h2o contamination from animal wastes. These practices are often referred to as Best Management Practices (BMP'south) (2). A few of these include:

Do not permit lagoons to overflow and contaminate streams.
Divert runoff from land in a higher place the barnyard, and divert barnyard runoff away from streams and ponds.
Create a riparian buffer zone past lining the lagoon with copse and vegetation. This will provide a rich source of soil microbes which degrade and eat nutrients such as nitrate and phosphorus found in manure.
When applying manure, be aware of the location of local drinking h2o sources, particularly individual sunken wells.

The University of Georgia, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, is a skillful resource for learning more about beast waste material and the environment.

Legal Aspects

The federal Water Pollution Control Act prohibits the discharge of large quantities of waste to waters without a permit. This includes feedlots, which are often considered 'concentrated' operations. If feedlots take at to the lowest degree 1,000 animal units and are maintained for 45 days or more than in a non-vegetated area, they autumn nether the National Pollutant Belch Emptying System (NPDES) permitting program (1). This programme requires that those businesses and households that fall nether its guidelines obtain permits in lodge to discharge wastes. Certain states may require more stringent standards, and some states crave footing and surface water monitoring.

External Links

N Carolina State University'southward H2o Quality and Land Treatment Education Component
North Carolina State University, Water Quality and Waste material Management
University of Georgia, Higher of Agronomics and Ecology Sciences Cooperative Extension. Animal Wastes and the Environment.
Texas A & M University, Tex*A*Syst Factsheet: Reducing Contagion by Improving Livestock Manure Storage and Treatment Facilities.
Texas A & M Academy, Tex*A*Syst Factsheet: Reducing Contamination past Improving Livestock Holding Pen Direction.

References
ane. U.South. E.P.A. National Pollution Belch Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Plan. URL: http://www.epa.gov/OWM/wm045000.htm
two. Hammond, C. Fauna Wastes and the Surround. Oct 1994. Academy of Georgia, Higher of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. URL: http://world wide web.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/c827-w.html.
iii. Water Quality and the North Carolina Swine Industry. March ten, 1995.URL: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/whpaper/WQswine.html