Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste Than All People In the US Combined, killing our water

AlterNet / By Jill Richardson

Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste Than All People In the US Combined and It's Killing Our Drinking Water
"Factory farms are dangerous to the environment; they are ticking time bombs of manure just waiting to be spilled into public waters."

May 23, 2011 |


The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently delivered a major victory to factory farms. Under a 2008 EPA rule, any confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) "designed, constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner such that the CAFO will discharge" animal waste must apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. The livestock industry ridiculed the notion that a farm must apply for a permit to discharge manure whether it intended to discharge it or not. And while, when phrased that way, it might sound ridiculous to you too, the details of the case betray a different story.

David Kirby, author of Animal Factory, The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment, tells story after story in his book of factory farms discharging waste irresponsibly -- sometimes on purpose, and sometimes not. As Karen Hudson, whose story is told in the book, says, "Factory farms are dangerous to the environment; they are ticking time bombs of manure just waiting to be spilled into public waters."

The simple fact is that factory farms produce over 100 times more waste than all American humans produce combined. In the past, a pastured cow might disperse waste over an acre or more; how can farmers responsibly deal with the waste of 1,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 or more animals when they are crammed in tightly together? And, unfortunately for the farmers, they are often working under contract for major meat or dairy conglomerates who own the animals and leave the farmer with a tiny profit margin (or none at all) -- plus all of the liability, dead animals and manure. Therefore, in addition to simply disposing of manure responsibly, they also need to dispose of it cheaply if they are to stay in business.

In Karen's story, the CAFO in question perhaps did not intend to discharge manure. The farmer, if given the choice, may not have decided to apply for a permit. In February 2001, heavy rains coupled with melting snow and ice raised the levels of the nearby megadairy's manure lagoon to just inches below the rim. Panicking, the farmer, David Inskeep, decided not to hire tankers to haul away his cows' waste, as investigators had ordered him to do. Instead he ran hoses from the lagoon to a nearby ravine over a mile away and pumped two million gallons of "a foamy, brown-yellow stew" into it. The 10-foot-high berm that dammed the ravine gave way, and the result was "the worst livestock spill in Illinois history." ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/water/150993/factory_farms_produce_100_times_more_waste_than_all_people_in_the_us_combined_and_it%27s_killing_our_drinking_water/

...by Spring, we had a "manure pile" at the far corner of the barn, which was then spread on the fields as fertilizer.

With only 10 or 12 cows, over a year that pile would grow to the size of six or eight large SUV's parked together. The amount of manure generated by 3,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 head is staggering. Disposal / repurposing of it is a costly and dangerous process (unlike the old days with a pitchfork and manure spreader).

The threat to our water supply is very real.




And the Republicans think we have too MUCH regulation.


(edited for typo)

Thanks for posting.

..thing a person can do for their health, the animals and the planet, and it also reduces our use of fossil fuels.

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