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Sep 18, 2009 11:59 PM | 12
Runoff from agriculture is the biggest polluter of the country's river and stream water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and it has been fingered for hypoxic dead zones and toxic red tide algae blooms.
But how much of that runoff makes it into people's drinking water closer to home? In agricultural areas, it can be enough to cause persistent health problems, including diarrhea and other infections, according to a report today in The New York Times.
"Sometimes it smells like a barn coming out of the faucet," Lisa Barnard, a Wisconsin resident told the Times. Barnard's well water tested positive for various contaminants and bacteria, including E. coli—which point not just to any runoff, but that coming from excess manure, according to the Times piece.
Beef and dairy farms often dispose of manure and other waste by shipping it out as fertilizer for crops, but "there just isn't enough land to absorb that much manure," said Bill Hafs, a Wisconsin county official who is angling for more stringent rules and enforcement, in an interview with the Times. When heavy rains or early spring melts come, excess waste can find its way into rivers and streams and also into groundwater—and into wells.
Brown County, where Hafs works, has about a quarter of a million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and about 41,000 dairy cows, which is about six people per cow. And as Hafs noted, "one cow produces as much waste as 18 people." And that is plenty of poo, according to many residents whose wells have been contaminated.
"More than 30 percent of the wells in one town alone violated basic health standards," Hafs told the Times. "It's obvious we've got a problem." But he and others who have raised a stink about the contamination have been met with powerful agricultural lobbies. "We don't have the laws to force people to stop" dumping it, Hafs added. Dairy farms in Brown County create about a million gallons of waste a day, the Times reports.
For the most part, biological contaminants from farms that runoff into rivers or filter down into groundwater are regulated only by local laws. The Clean Water Act's jurisdiction is constrained largely to pollutants in water that is moving through manmade water supplies, such as aqueducts or pipes. The EPA does regulate farms that have more than 700 cows, but enforcement has been lax, the newspaper noted.
"The challenge now is for EPA and Congress to develop solutions that represent the next step in protecting our nation's waters and people's health," Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, said in an interview with the Times.
Image courtesy of canadianfamily via Flickr
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12 Comments
Add CommentNever any good news, always doom and gloom. When will ya'll be satisfied, when lettuce is 10 bucks a head and milk 20 bucks a gallon. Its always about a tiny fish or a breath of fresh air, NEVER the human race. Can't clear, can't fertilize, can't spray, can't water, can't use fuel, how do you want a farmer to produce anything, or do you. GET REAL
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswe should find some ways to solue this qustions
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswe must find some ways to solve this qustions
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe could eat less beef, or maybe no beef, and reduce land use by cattle farms. We're going to need the land as population continues to grow and beef is an expensive food to produce. I know, change makes many people angry. Whatever. It would be more humane, healthy and practical.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a great article to support the idea of meatless Mondays and knowing where our food and water comes from.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHolli Thompson, Nutritional Style
Rougarou, you obviously did not read past the first paragraph, The entirety of the article after that is about how agricultural runoff directly affects humans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEprida, (www.eprida.com), a biotech research group, is setting up start-ups to convert sewage sludge into charcoal economically in the US. This pyrolysis process could be applied to farm sludges, if only there was the will to do it. The technique is ecologically sound, although, patently there are so-called green lobbies starting up against it. As it happens, converting biomass into charcoal (and other hydrocarbons) also removes greenhouse gases from the air, so could be liable for carbon credits?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat sounds good.but it is a expanxive way to do,i think some simple way must be found
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problems in Brown County appear to have arisen because manure was applied inappropriately, i.e., onto frozen ground. If manure is applied at appropriate rates and in appropriate ways it can serve as a fertilizer but if it is applied inappropriately it can become a dangerous toxic material. The problem is that there is increasing pressure to inappropriately apply manure in order to boost profits and to maximize yields to meet excessive demand. We need to develop policies that will ensure that those who realize the benefits of commerce and agriculture bear all of the costs including the environmental costs and we need policies that encourage reduced use of meat and animal products that require excessive consumption of precious resources for their production.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm with eco-steve and think biochar is part of the solution. It can also be combined with wheat husks or whatever other agriwaste is in the area. 10 tons of biomass (cow pooh and agriwaste) = 3 tons of syngas and 1 ton of biochar.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFund it all by claiming the carbon credits, and then also sell the syngas to run local agriculture, and sell the biochar to crop farmers that need it to reduce THEIR nitrogen consumption and run-off into streams. Everyone wins!
It would seem that the "Profit over people" syndrome is not limited to bankers.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisContact: SC RURIS IMPEX SRL, Craiova, tel: 0351.46.46.32, www.ruris.ro