What Are The Environmental Consequences Of Concentrating Animals On Feedlots?

Index

What is a CAFO?
What pollutants practice CAFOs produce?
Are there are different kinds of CAFOs?
What'due south in CAFO waste?
How do CAFOs pollute water?
How do CAFOs pollute air?
How practice CAFOs bear on man health?
Are CAFOs sustainable?
Do CAFOs need taxpayer subsidies?
How are CAFOs regulated and permitted?
About CAFO Waste & Spreading
H2o Quality Issues
CAFO Nuts
CAFO Regulations & Government Subsidies
Get Help

What is a CAFO?

A CAFO, or Concentrated Brute Feeding Operation , is an industrial-sized livestock performance.

The quantity of urine and carrion from even the smallest CAFO is equivalent to the urine and feces produced by 16,000 humans.
A CAFO can house anywhere from hundreds to millions of animals.
The animals in CAFOs are most often dairy cows, hogs, or chickens.
CAFO animals are confined at least 45 days or more per year in an area without vegetation.
CAFOs include open feedlots, likewise as massive, windowless buildings where livestock are confined in boxes or stalls.
Other terms used to depict a CAFO: mega farm, animal manufactory, pig motels, poop factories, industrial farms.

(Also see CAFO in the glossary and CAFO Nuts below.)

What pollutants do CAFOs produce?

CAFOs produce huge amounts of animal sewage and other pollutants.
Brown liquid enters Lime Lk Drain, with plume clearly visible.
CAFO owners and operators spend millions of dollars on technologies that make it possible to produce massive quantities of milk, eggs, and meat, yet they resist investing in technologies and practices to properly treat the wastes that are by-products of this manufacture:

The corporeality of urine and feces produced by the smallest CAFO is equivalent to the quantity of urine and carrion produced by 16,000 humans.
CAFO waste matter is normally not treated to reduce affliction-causing pathogens, nor to remove chemicals, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, or other pollutants.
Over 168 gases are emitted from CAFO waste matter, including chancy chemicals such equally ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methyl hydride.
Airborne particulate matter is establish near CAFOs and can carry disease-causing bacteria, fungus, or other pathogens.
Animals often die in CAFOs. Their carcasses, frequently in large numbers, must be dealt with.
Infestations of flies, rats, and other vermin are commonplace around CAFOs and therefore around CAFO neighbors.

Often you'll hear owners of CAFOs argue that the wastes produced by the livestock provide nutrients that help them kickoff the use of synthetic fertilizers. The sheer corporeality of wastes produced, however, often overwhelms the ability of the land and crops to absorb CAFO wastes.

Are there different kinds of CAFOs?

Yes.

One blazon of CAFO houses livestock in buildings the animals seldom leave. Removing wastes from these buildings is a major claiming.

Dairy and hog CAFOs oft use clean water to wash beast wastes and contaminants from the buildings into waste-storage structures or lagoons.
Poultry CAFOs apply dry out-waste material systems. The waste material falls from beast cages to the floor, where it is scraped out of the building periodically or collected on conveyer belts and moved to composting or storage sites.

Another type of CAFO is the feedlot , which keeps the animals outdoors in pens. Here the manure waste accumulates on the footing, oft washing off into nearby ditches and streams.

What's in CAFO waste?

In addition to found nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, CAFO waste product is probable to contain:

antibiotic-resistant bacteria
hormones
chemicals used in livestock care
milkhouse wastes
cleaning agents
ammonia and heavy metals
silage leachate
millions of gallons of water contaminated by all of the above.

CAFO waste is oftentimes stored untreated in gigantic anaerobic waste storage structures or pits for up to half-dozen months. After storage, information technology is spread on farm fields for disposal. This is where CAFO wastes ofttimes enters surface water.
Lime Lake is shown bright green with an algae bloom, downstream from drainn shown in photo above.
Nutrients in this CAFO waste material can cause vivid-green algae blooms in ditches, streams, and lakes. Equally these surface-h2o algae blooms dice off, the oxygen in the water is depleted. What does this do? It tin can lead to fish kills. Additionally, drinking-water plants must remove these nutrients before water is fit for consumption.

Pathogens such as E.coli bacteria, cryptosporidium, and salmonella, all of which can cause sickness or decease in humans and animals, may be present in CAFO wastes.

How practise CAFOs pollute water?

H2o pollution is possible at virtually whatever point in a CAFO's operation.

In the production area, spills, overflows, and tracking of wastes on tractor and truck tires tin can cause surface runoff of contaminants.
Stormwater that mixes with manure wastes, silage leachate, or milkhouse wastes can menstruation into drains.
Pipes or hoses carrying wastes can break or become unattached. Waste storage structures can overflow or flare-up.
Field tiles or catch basins can be installed that drain wastes directly into surface waters.

ECCSCM

It may have dozens of trips per day past semis or tanker trucks to dispose of CAFO waste. These trucks haul the wastes from the production area waste-storage structures to fields that are often many miles away.

One of the master sources of CAFO-caused pollution in Michigan comes from discharges of manure and other wastes through the soil into field drainage tiles , which carry the wastes directly into county drains and streams.

When CAFO wastes are applied to farm fields, h2o pollution tin be caused by overapplication of wastes, direct runoff into surface waters, or past traveling through the ground- or catch basins into field tiles or drainage ditches that discharge directly into surface waters. Tests have shown that waste product applied to the surface of a field can have a little as 45 minutes to reach the field tiles 3 to iv anxiety below the surface.

Manure wastes are also sprayed from travel irrigators , trucks, tractors, or draglined. This waste product can period directly into surface waters due to wind, by direct belch from running over a bleed or waterway, or through malfunctions of the equipment.

Groundwater pollution can be caused by leaking waste storage structures, and improper or over-awarding of wastes on fields. The apply of injection systems for shooting wastes direct into the soil is encouraged every bit a method to keep odor from CAFO land application down, nevertheless there is meaning business concern that this could only atomic number 82 to quicker travel fourth dimension through the soils into field drainage tiles. Some CAFO owners have converted field drainage tiles into de facto septic systems past plugging them with gate valves and other devices. These systems at best merely delay the pollution and don't continue pollution from flowing to groundwater. They certainly don't remove pathogens. Groundwater is hard to monitor, so the extent and source of contamination are oft harder to pinpoint than surface water contamination.

How do CAFOs pollute air?

Air pollution from CAFOs tin come through numerous methods. Some can cause bad odors, but others emit several dangerous gases as manure and biological materials break downward in the absence of oxygen such as in the bottom of a manure pit. Marsh gas, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide are some of the gases. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide can cause neurological bug, including extreme anger, low, and illness. The image at right shows a family unit raising the American flag in their yard, while a hydrogen sulfide meter shows concentrations of the contaminant at two parts per million in Oct 2008. The source CAFO tin can be seen across the pino tree. Unfortunately, this dwelling is also surrounded on three sides by fields oftentimes used past the CAFO for manure disposal.

Some of the sources of CAFO air pollution are:

Barns where the animals are housed

The air pollution inside the buildings is potentially deadly to the animals and humans inside if the fans e'er finish operating. Commonly the fans simply blow the contaminated air to the outside where it tin pollute the whole community. Poultry operations accident ammonia and particulate thing, including feathers and chicken feces out of the buildings.

Waste product storage structures

Pig operations often build the waste product storage structure immediately beneath the area where the animals are kept, with slats in the floors to allow wastes to simply driblet into the pit.

Handling of the wastes

The CAFO wastes stored in waste matter storage structures is not treated or aerated, often resulting in extreme off-gassing of pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S ) when the wastes are transported and sprayed onto farm fields.

Techniques used in state awarding

For example, one time or twice each yr many liquid waste product CAFO systems volition scrape the solids out of the lesser of the waste matter storage structures and spread these thick, fermented wastes onto farm fields, causing even worse air pollution.

How do CAFOs impact human health?

CAFOs may crusade health furnishings to their neighbors from pollution damage to the air, country and water.
Over 168 gases are emitted from CAFO waste, including hazardous chemicals such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane.
Hydrogen sulfide poisoning can cause irreversible brain impairment, dizziness, headache, nausea, sore throats, sinusitis, burning eyes, and other illnesses.
When phosphorus and nitrogen are over-applied to fields, the nutrients can move through the soil into field tiles to surface water, or through soil to groundwater and drinking water.
Elevated levels of nitrates in drinking water tin cause "blue babe syndrome", a potentially fatal blood disorder.

Are CAFOs sustainable?

No.

CAFOs are resource-intensive and unsustainable.
CAFOs animal-raising practices are neither economically viable or sustainable.
CAFOs use large amounts of electricity for lighting, equipment, milkers, pumps, and irrigators.
CAFOs use fuel in tremendous quantities to run tractors, gas motors, and pumps, and to send milk, waste material, supplies, and chemicals.
CAFOs use millions of gallons of Michigan'south clean fresh groundwater every twenty-four hour period to dilute waste product and to wash manure from milking parlors and CAFO barns.

Practise CAFOs need taxpayer subsidies?

Aye.

CAFOs can't survive without taxpayer subsidies. CAFOs receive many subsidies, such every bit milk price support guarantees, federal EQIP money through the Farm Neb , Development Correct Agreements, tax abatements, grants, bonds, even economic development funds for roads.

These taxpayer supports not simply encourage the growth of this industry, they undercut the ability of traditional livestock operations to compete with CAFOs. Without the subsidies, CAFOs would fail financially. Sierra Club is a fellow member of the Less=More than coalition that aims to end subsidies to polluting mill farms to level the playing field for sustainable livestock farmers. Less support for polluting manufacturing plant farms ways a more sustainable Michigan. Learn more at MoreforMichigan.org.

How are CAFOs regulated and permitted?

Federal laws institute minimum standards for the regulation of any activity that causes air pollution or water pollution. All the same, through aggressive lobbying by the promoters of CAFOs, federal laws for the ecology oversight of CAFOs are extremely weak.

Currently, the U.Due south. Ecology Protection Agency provides no regulation of air pollution issues from CAFOs. Under the Right-to-Know provisions of CERCLA 42 The statesC. §11001 et seq. (1986), also known as Title Iii of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) , the Emergency Planning and Customs Right-to-Know Act - otherwise known as EPCRA (pronounced EP-kra) - was enacted by Congress as the national legislation on community condom. This law is designed to help local communities protect public health, safe, and the environment from chemical hazards. CAFOs are required to report emissions of some pollutants, most notably ammonia. This requirement led to disclosure that the largest emitter of ammonia in the land is a dairy CAFO in Oregon.

The federal Clean Water Deed does provide some regulation of CAFOs, although interpretations of the extent of those requirements are being litigated. Land laws must exist at least as restrictive every bit the federal police, but in Michigan and some other states it has required citizens to bring challenges to state's delegation nether the Clean Water Deed to force the agencies to implement the laws. Federal law requires that whatever CAFO which has had an illegal discharge into surface waters must obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in order to continue operations. Several states (including Michigan) now require NPDES permits for all CAFOs, including new ones.

It is important to review the regulations in your land in order to understand what is allowed and non immune. ( EPA links to state program websites. )

Land and federal agronomical agencies often play a part in establishing voluntary standards that CAFOs and other livestock operations are expected to abide by. In some instances, the agricultural agencies will deed as the gatekeeper for securing any enforcement actions by the state, peculiarly in the surface area of air pollution. In Michigan, for example, the Department of Agriculture is given the responsibility for investigating air pollution complaints from CAFOs, although they take no enforcement authority. Except in an emergency, the agriculture director must make a referral to the Section of Environmental Quality earlier any action can be taken by the ecology agency regarding those complaints.

CAFO Waste & Spreading

Is information technology illegal to spread CAFO manure on the ground?

No, it is non illegal to spread CAFO manure waste on the basis. While this website describes many dissimilar situations in which a CAFO may exist spreading their waste on state, and many maybe harmful furnishings of that action, it is not of itself illegal. It is illegal if a CAFO spreads waste in such a manner that it moves off the land and into waters of the state, and this "discharge" causes or contributes to a violation of Michigan's water quality standards in waters of the state.

What is in CAFO manure?

CAFO manure contains the animals' feces and urine, plus, the definition also includes other materials such as bedding, compost, and other raw materials. CAFO manure is as well loaded with the plant nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, which can cause algae blooms if released to surface h2o, and pathogens such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) , and other fecal coliforms.

Manure may also contain:

growth hormones used to increase the production of milk in the cows
antibiotics that go along the animals from getting sick
chemicals used to clean the milkhouse equipment or used equally additives to lagoons
milkhouse wastes discharged on the floor while milking
birthing fluids from cows calving
blood from birthing
silage leachate from the chopped corn in bunkers
production surface area waste from the equipment being washed or used
contaminated stormwater stormwater is considered clean unless it'southward allowed to come into contact with manure
copper sulfate used in the footbaths for cows earlier they are led into the milking parlor.

There are 168 chemicals in and around manure co-ordinate to a 2001 USEPA Report (Appendix A, folio 235-244).

Can a methane digester solve the CAFO'due south waste material trouble?
Not really. This is like capturing a fart in a jar. It may help reduce some odors, but information technology has severe limits.

Methane digesters do not :

reduce nitrogen or phosphorus (in most schemes)
reduce liquid in the manure
improve the waste as a fertilizer (it is still distributed on fields)
save taxpayers money

Can composting the manure solve the CAFO's waste problem?

In short, no. And, as you read the bulleted list beneath, remember that a Michigan CAFO tin can have a compost pile inside 200 feet of its neighbour.

In addition to manure and other materials, CAFO compost piles may have upwardly to xx,000 pounds of dead animals in ane pile (and if simply i animal had mad moo-cow disease and this pile is spread on the land, the prions could enter the food or milk supply). For more information on prions, encounter the Center for Disease Control Prion Diseases webpage.
CAFO compost piles draw vermin, rats, flies, coyotes, and vultures.
Most CAFO compost sites exercise not take runoff containment structures, and the nutrient-rich liquids can cause algae blooms if they accomplish surface waters.
the odors emitted can go very potent if the composting is not done correctly.

What is a CAFO discharge?

Discharge ways any direct or indirect release of any waste, waste product effluent, wastewater, pollutant, or any combination thereof into any of the waters of the state or upon the ground. View theDEQ Wastewater Belch Permit Rules.

A CAFO belch may be called many things: a spill, blow, terrorist attack, or blamed on birds, cherry trees, deer, horses, geese, raccoons, or the neighbors. Simply rarely is information technology called what it is: a mess from the CAFO with three,500 cows.
A CAFO discharge can be brown and odor like animate being waste product; it can be white and scent similar bad milk; it can be green and sour which may be leachate from the silage (chopped corn that they feed to cows).
A CAFO discharge may too be diluted with stormwater. In this instance, the CAFO proverb is "dilution is the solution to pollution."

Are CAFO operators immune to spread beast waste on snowfall?

spreading manure on snow with ponding The existent answer should be "no, not under any circumstance."

Instead the reply to this question is "mayhap". How would y'all notice out?

First notice out if the CAFO has whatever restrictions in its NPDES allow or consent gild -- if they have 1--for spreading waste on snowfall.
Next learn which fields in each CAFO'due south Comprehensive Nutrient Management Programme (CNMP) are immune to accept winter application on them, and whether it can be solids or liquids.
Then observe out the Manure Application Adventure Index (MARI) for each field. This research grant proposal from the Michigan Country University to the U.South. Geological Survey (USGS) describes use of the Manure Awarding Run a risk Index for evaluating fields for wintertime manure country awarding.

Whether or not a CAFO is allowed to spread waste product on snowfall depends either on what is in their Comprehensive Food Direction Plan , or on whether the CAFO has an gild from the state with specifics for wintertime application. This may be determined on a field by field footing. Many CAFOs will spread waste material on snowfall just to get rid of it and then hope they don't get caught. The problem is that when the snow melts, the manure will run off into the nearest ditch or stream, because frozen basis cannot absorb water. Oft the manure on the snowfall volition even cause the snow and ice to melt. If you observe CAFO operators spreading waste matter on snow or frozen ground, and you know their CNMP and NPDES let doesn't allow them to, you should contact the MDEQ district part , or call the Pollution Emergency Alert System (PEAS).

Are CAFO Operators allowed to dump manure in piles on fields?

This is a gray-area question. Past dumping manure piles, a CAFO creates an off-site production expanse of waste. This off-site production area cannot discharge to waters of the state. See page 6 of the DEQ Wastewater Belch Permit Rules for the official definition of "production area".

How long can manure be piled at a site? The Comprehensive Nutrient Management Programme may contain information on this practice.
A manure pile can cause fly outbreaks, and invite coyotes, vultures, and rats if dead animals are in these piles.
If the piles are placed near homes, the emissions may crusade illness to residents.

Are CAFO Operators allowed to spread waste before precipitation or rainfall?

This tin can also be a cloudy area. Come across Instructions for Determining Precipitation Forecasts ( pages 55-56 of this CAFO let guide) to run across how weather forecasts are applicative to CAFOs. You lot may use the instructions along with the CAFO'southward CNMP to determine if they are spreading waste material in violation of their NPDES allow.

The photo at right, taken in Lenawee Canton simply before a predicted rainfall, shows manure waste application on a fairly steep slope.

Is there a time of year when CAFOs can't spread wastes?

Not necessarily, this may be different for each CAFO. Each CAFO'south NPDES permit guides what tin and cannot be washed.

Are there fields CAFOs can never spread waste matter on?

Yeah. Soil testing for phosphorus must be done for fields that volition be used for state application of CAFO wastes. If the soil tests signal high amounts of phosphorus, a CAFO cannot use waste matter to that field. That information is included in the Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan.

How far away does the CAFO waste have to stay from water, lake, wetland, and and then on?

This refers to a "setback", and the required setback data would exist found in the CAFO'southward NPDES permit.

Is information technology legal for CAFO operators to spill the waste matter in the road?

No. All the same, you would need to contact your local route commission or police department to file a complaint on this outcome. Unless the spill gets into waters of the state, or is an farthermost amount, it is necessary to contact the regime agency that has jurisdiction over roads.

CAFOs' Impacts on Humans

Do I need to worry nigh a CAFO going in near my house?

Yes. You need to organize and educate your neighbors every bit shortly equally possible. Run into How to Stop Blessing of a New CAFO.

What will happen to my holding values with a CAFO nearby?

Property values volition drop the closer in proximity to a CAFO that yous live. Information can be institute from realtor.com and other sources.

How does the CAFO waste end up on my property?

CAFO waste can be sprayed, irrigated, blown past the current of air, spread further through surface ponding of rainfall, or from runoff that may reach your belongings. High powered fans used to absurd the hundreds of animals in the buildings ofttimes accident out bedding or other contaminated materials.

Are there human being wellness effects from exposure to CAFO manure?

Yes. Many people accept become ill living near and working at CAFOs. Some people develop breathing problems, coughs, headaches, hydrogen sulfide poisoning, and ammonia poisoning. Here are some articles from Ecology Wellness Perspectives :

air pollution

Air pollution from industrial swine operations and claret pressure of neighboring residents
State awarding of treated sewage sludge: community health and environmental justice
EHP – Dust Emissions from Cattle Feed Yards: A Source of Antibiotic Resistance?

drug resistance

Multidrug-Resistant and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Pig Slaughter and Processing Found Workers
Antibiotics, Bacteria, and Antibiotic Resistance Genes (Sentinel the Birth of a Superbug)

What do I exercise when they are spreading CAFO waste material next to my house?

First, this activity may not be illegal. But there are provisions the country applicator must follow to protect your home and property. So first, to be safe - get your children indoors, close your windows, and take down your laundry. Then start documenting your observations, in case the activity is causing a trouble.

Take time-stamped pictures of the field where waste is being spread;
Take fourth dimension-stamped pictures of the application equipment;
Get the weather forecast or report from the National Weather Service and save the report on your figurer, or impress it. Encounter Instructions for Determining Precipitation Forecasts ( pages 55-56 of this CAFO permit guide) to see how weather forecasts apply to timing of CAFO activities. You may utilise the instructions along with the CAFO's CNMP to determine if they are spreading waste in violation of their NPDES permit.
Become your notebook, notation the date and time and all your observations: if the CAFO is spreading waste over whatever field tiles , side by side to county drains , side by side to whatsoever open waterways, near a tile riser , over a catch basin , near a dike , or near your water well. Draw sketches, indicate which manner is north, roads, buildings, homes.

Additionally, certificate:

how far the application is from your property;
if you or your family are feeling ill, which may indicate emissions of a toxic gas. (An odor will not make you lot ill. An emission will requite you a headache, nausea, called-for sinuses, sore throat.)
if yous odor odor, and what it smells similar (for example, it could smell like manure, or like soured milk, or even similar diesel fuel.)

How do I certificate the activities I find virtually the CAFO?

In a nutshell, you lot will take pictures, take water samples, and even olfactory property the water at your own risk (aroma it for manure or some other wrong scent). Comport a notebook and keep data, such as a journal or a checklist. Have someone else verify your information, if at all possible.

Tin can I take photographs of a CAFO?

Yes. Pictures ideally should testify the fourth dimension, date, and location of what is happening. This is especially important if rainfall is predicted and a facility is land-applying waste product anyway, perhaps even in violation of its NPDES allow or consent order. (run across MDEQ's CAFO website for more than data on this situation).

Without trespassing onto private belongings, and simply working from the route-right-of-way, or from the belongings of a landowner who gave you permission, take photos of:

operations to certificate their practices. These may show illegal practices such equally pumping into a waterway or county drain or into a take hold of basin.
buildings to show number of buildings and location. Pictures here may also evidence dead animals.
activities to show land application of waste, types of hauling equipment. Certificate excavation or tiling activities , besides.
people just if they are harassing or stalking y'all, such equally following you lot in your vehicle or blocking your path. If someone is harassing you, you should besides call the police or 911. Photos of people may too be taken if they are doing something you lot believe is illegal that would be a violation of the CAFO's NPDES water discharge permit or consent order , if the CAFO has one.

How can I protect myself while monitoring?

Notify the law or local sheriff that you and a companion will be monitoring water well-nigh CAFOs, as explained below.
Bring someone with you if at all possible.
Calibrate whatsoever equipment alee of time to save time while at the monitoring location.
Make sure all your equipment is turned on ahead of time and ready to be used.
Employ the two-infinitesimal rule : try to exercise everything you need to do as fast, but as accurately, equally possible. This includes using the dissolved oxygen (Practise) meter to measure Do and water temperature, grabbing a water sample, using a meter to measure the pH, using the ammonia strips, taking pictures, and then on.

Transport discover to the local sheriff or state police of: which CAFOs you will be monitoring and where, what type and color of vehicle you lot'll be in, plus the license plate number. Tell them your and other monitors' names, addresses, and phone numbers, and cell phone numbers. Tell them clearly what y'all are doing and let them know yous are monitoring the water or air. This way, if someone complains nearly your activities, the constabulary will know where to find y'all, and can phone call y'all.

You must never trespass. Check for road right-of-way distances. Realize that state highways are unlike than local roads. A CAFO operator may file charges against yous if yous are trespassing on their holding. If you programme to access a stream away from the road, you lot must go permission from the landowner.

What should I do if I come across:

a broken lagoon or waste product storage pit
waste running out of a pipe, a tube, a truck, an irrigator
ponding or pooling of waste on fields
dead animals
syringes and other related equipment dumped
digging, tiling or dumping at night
earth-moving equipment at work

If you see any of these practices or waste products at a CAFO, you lot should document it with photos that tape the fourth dimension and date. If you believe a violation has occurred, contact the appropriate agency with your concerns.

Tin the CAFO become later on me if I study them?

Yes. A CAFO can get later on you lot if you lot report them. Some agencies take bearding tips, and you lot can report them that style. Remember that documentation is extremely important, so be diligent in your investigation before you lot report a violation. Always document your investigation, and always be credible.

H2o Quality Problems

My well water tastes funny? Tin can I get my well water tested?

If your well water tastes or smells funny, do not beverage your water until you have information technology tested. When testing, document the test and accept pictures.

You can test your well yourself. In Michigan, your local wellness department may furnish free bottles with an instruction sheet and where to send the sample. It costs between $fourteen.00 and $16.00 for to have samples tested. The instruction canvas explains the sampling protocol. Other states likely have similar services.

Why is my lake green? White? Black? Brown?

Lime Lake is green in spring after being subject to discharges all winter of 2004. While there may be other reasons that water tin plow dissimilar colors, CAFOs are frequently the culprit if they are located either upstream or up the hill from a lake or stream.

A greenish lake may exist a sign of a silage leachate discharge that has acquired an algae bloom. The photo at right shows an instance, at Lime Lake almost Hudson, Michigan.
A white colour may exist from milk or milkhouse waste being discharged into water.
Black water may be a sign of a direct discharge of animate being waste into the h2o.
Brown water may be diluted animal waste in the water.

Is the wetland on my holding dead considering of CAFO waste matter?
Water testing is needed to verify if there is waste material in the wetland. Though water quality standards are slightly unlike, E. coli and other fecal coliforms may still signal the presence of fecal material in the wetland.

Is it safe to bear upon the water?

No. Never presume that h2o is prophylactic near a CAFO or a land application site. Ever wear make clean rubber gloves. If bloodworms are nowadays in the water, this can be an indicator that you lot may go hepatitis if you are not wearing gloves. You lot could also become Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Pfisteria, or other illnesses from the fecal affair in the water. If yous have an open cutting anywhere, you may want to have your companion accept any water samples.

What practise I do if I fall in the h2o?

Depending where and how yous autumn in, clean up every bit soon as possible.

Wash as much off before you get into your vehicle.
Go directly to where you tin shower.
Monitor your health.
If you become sick or were totally submerged, contact your physician.
If you lot become sick immediately, go to the emergency room.

Is a roadside ditch considered part of the surface water ?

You lot would have to contact the proper bureau to brand this determination. If the roadside ditch connects to waters of the country information technology may exist considered surface water, open up bleed, or county drain.

What do I do if y'all come across dead fish downstream from the CAFO?

Certificate the dead fish by taking pictures; count how many and what kind if you tin identify them. If at that place is a large number of dead fish, such as whatever number to a higher place eight or ten, contact the agency in charge in your state. In Michigan this would be the Department of Natural Resources. You should also notify the MDEQ.

CAFO Nuts

How many locations/facilities make up a CAFO?

I facility can be a CAFO. Ii or more than AFOs under common ownership are considered to be a single AFO for the purposes of determining the number of animals at an operation, if the AFOs adjoin each other, or if they utilize a common surface area or organization for the disposal of wastes.

In Michigan, satellite barns and satellite lagoons would also exist considered as part of a single AFO if they meet the definition under the Rules of DEQ Wastewater Belch Permits.

Where do CAFOs go on their animals?

All the animals are kept inside large cramped barns, they are not allowed exterior to graze.

Where does CAFO waste come up from?

The animals within the CAFO produce the bulk of the waste matter. One 1400-pound moo-cow produces approximately 17.7 gallons of feces and urine daily. CAFO waste can too come from the production areas, such as lagoons or other waste product storage structures, silage bunkers, the milkhouse, contaminated stormwater, manure piles, and compost.

What kinds of creature wastes or CAFO wastes are there?

There are many different contaminants and materials in CAFO wastes. Milkhouse waste matter, silage leachate, blood from birthing, antibiotics, chemicals, are but some of the animal wastes. See What pollutants exercise CAFOs produce? and What's in CAFO waste?

What typically grows in the fields nearly CAFOs?

Alfalfa, soybeans, corn, wheat, rye, vegetables.

What types of h2o pollution can come from CAFOs, and what health issues can arise?

Surface and groundwater pollution tin can come from CAFOs. Groundwater contamination tin cause Due east. coli poisoning and blue baby syndrome. Surface water contamination can cause illness from Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Pfisteria. See How do CAFOs pollute water?

What kind of air pollution tin come from CAFOs, and what health issues can arise?

There are over 168 chemicals in and effectually manure. Some of the main gases are methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. You may have trouble breathing when the CAFO operators are spraying the fields with waste product. If you experience ill from waste matter application, notify your local wellness department or physician immediately. See How do CAFOs pollute air?

CAFO Regulations & Government Subsidies

What is a CAFO permit and where do I discover it?

Michigan CAFOs are required to take only one permit. It is a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System , or NPDES allow, given to authorize discharges to waters of the state but under particular circumstances. By signing the permit application, a CAFO owner shows good intentions to practice the right matter. But the permit is only as skilful as the management at the CAFO. Permits do non guarantee compliance with the law. They do not protect public health. Call up, from a CAFO's betoken of view, it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission!

You tin find NPDES permits at the Michigan Section of Environmental Quality Concentrated Animal Feeding Functioning website. Be sure to see How to use for a NPDES let. Also come across the U.South. Ecology Protection Agency NPDES webpage and its Creature Feeding Operations department.

There are 2 categories of NPDES permits for CAFOs. Some CAFOs are required to utilise for an Private NPDES Let, that is written specifically for that one particular CAFO. Others are immune to utilize for a Certificate of Coverage (COC) to exist covered under the CAFO General Permit, where the terms of the let are practical to all the CAFOs with COCs. The Full general Permit language assumes all the CAFOs covered are alike, then they all have the same requirements. See the MDEQ CAFO website for more data.

Do CAFOs get money or subsidies from the government?

Most CAFOs receive subsidies in some form. Milk subsidies, road grants through local or country economical development agencies, EQIP , rural development grants, renewable energy grants, bonds, ingather subsidies, etc.

The agriculture department says they follow mostly accustomed agricultural management practices (GAAMPS) and the "MOU". What is this?

Come across GAAMPS The Michigan Correct to Farm Human action, P.A. 93, was enacted in 1981 to provide farmers with protection from nuisance lawsuits. This state statute authorizes the Michigan Commission of Agronomics to develop and adopt Generally Accepted Agronomical and Management Practices (GAAMPs) for farms and farm operations in Michigan. These voluntary practices are based on available applied science and scientific inquiry to promote audio ecology stewardship and help maintain a farmer's right to farm.

MOU is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality , entered into for the purpose of delineating the respective roles and responsibilities regarding state agency response actions to ecology and nuisance complaints about farm operations.

Get Aid

What organizations can help you lot find information most CAFOs?

There are many organizations that can help:

Sierra Club
Socially Responsible Agricultural Project
Nutrient & Water Lookout man
Waterkeeper Alliance
Club for Responsible Agronomics
U.S. EPA (Visit state agencies for your land)

Also visit CAFO Aid Contact Info for more than information.

Source: https://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/why-are-cafos-bad

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