Mega Farms Effects on Water

Mega Farms Effects On Water

Water pollution has been an increasing problem over the last few years. Pollution itself is when a substance or energy is introduced into the soil, air, or water in a concentrate. Pollution comes in many forms; agricultural, urban runoff, industrial, sedimentary, animal wastes, and leeching from landfills/septic systems just to name a few. These pollutants are very detrimental to the environment. Whether they are alone or combined with another form of pollution they are very harmful. Over the last hundred years the problems with pollution have been increasing with time. This is due to both the increase in human population, and the increases in technology we have made as a society. If we plan on having our resources here for many years to come we are going to have to make some drastic changes in the way we treat the earth, and these changes will have to start with our pollutants. (Jones,1993,pp.4-15)

Agricultural pollution is a very big contributor to water pollution. Problems we see with agriculture are applications of fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides. We have made vast improvements in the types of chemicals we are using, as to how environmentally friendly they are. In 1985 the amount of fertilizer added to America’s fields was 11.5 million tons. Not only do these chemicals leech in to the soil, but they are also swept off the soils by rain and wind. When these fertilizers reach the water there is a sudden boom in plant growth. When the plants die, bacteria that need oxygen to live eat their bodies. This starts to deplete the amount of oxygen in the water for other fish and animals to live and breath, and they end up dying. Besides the chemical contamination on the farm there are major problems with animal wastes. (Jones,1993,pp.39-60)

Over the last 30 or so years there has been an increased demand for food. Foods like pork, chicken, turkey, and beef. With the demand for meats, there is also an increased demand for grains to feed these animals. So more land is needed to grow the feed, less space is available for the feedlots. More and more of these feedlots have been popping up over the landscape. And the amounts of animals crammed into the small spaces are also increasing. There can be as few as 50 to as many as 7 million in a single confinement. It is estimated that the amount of livestock waste is 13 times greater than the amount of human sanitary waste generated in the United States (Hoag,1999,pp28-29). Think about the total amount of wastes produced in a day at one of these confinements. This waste is either pumped into bins, earthen lagoons, or spread onto fields as fertilizer. These waste storage facilities pose a great threat to the environment. Animal waste contains many polluants that can contaminate surface and ground water used as drinking water source. The greatest health concern associated with livestock is pathogens. Organisms like Cryptosporidium, E.Coli, Giardia lamblia and Salmonella can infect humans if ingested. Particularly strains of E. coli can cause serious illness and even death. Cryptosporidium is of particular concern because it is highly resistant to disinfections with chlorine. Animal waste contains many other pollutants that affect humans and water quality. Antibiotics, pesticides and hormones also used in animal feeding operations can become harmful pollutants as well. (Johnson,1991,pp.68-99).

A lagoon, or waste storage pond is made by excavating earth fill to provide temporary storage of animal waste. This practice can reduce the amount of organics, pathogens and nutrients entering surface waters, however, most of the lagoons are not properly constructed and maintained allowing manure to seep into the ground contaminating the ground water. They can also break causing a major spill. In 1995 a North Carolina hog farm had a lagoon break through its side and spill into the New York River. The lagoon held approximately 25 million gallons of feces and urine. When these spills occur the animal life in the body of water they pollute is wiped out. The manure kills the fish just as the fertilizers do. They produce a major algae bloom, and when the plants die they produce a large amount of bacteria that use up the oxygen in the water causing the fish and other animals to die. (Keller,2002,pp.333)

Lagoons have three distinct zones containing liquids, sludge and solids. These wastes can later be pumped out and applied to cropland as fertilizer. Because of