THE EFFECTS OF FACTORY

FARM RUNOFF
Morgan Schockman
December 4 2014

Did You Know?

Current farming practices are blamed for 70% of
the nations rivers and streams pollution.

U.S. farmland runoff has polluted 173,000 miles

of waterways.

What is Runoff?

Runoff

Runoff is any water that passes

over land and runs into a body
of water.
Runoff from a factory farm
take the chemicals and
manure and run into water or
seep into the ground.

Factory
Farms

Large-Scale Factory Farms

1
2
3

Hold hundreds of
thousands cows, pigs, or
chickens.
They produce 500 million
tons of manure each
year.
Manure is stored in
underground lagoons or
in piles on the land.

Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens

such as:
Salmonella
E. coli
Cryptosporidium
Fecal Coliform
Cow wading through manure on land.

These are 10 to 100

times more
concentrated than in
human waste.
More than 40
diseases can be
transferred to
humans through

According to the Natural Resources Defense

Council (NRDC):

Huge open-air waste lagoons,

often as big as several football
fields are prone to leaks and
spills. In 1995 an eight-acre
hog-waste lagoon in North
Carolina burst, spilling 25
million gallons of manure into
the New River. The spill killed
about 10 million fish and
closed 364,000 acres of
coastal wetlands to shell
fishing.

Open-air lagoon on farm

The manure that it stored

on these farms is then
spread on crops as
fertilizer.
According to beyondfactoryfarming.org:

Manure is spread when the land

is not growing a crop, either
spring or fall. Fall application
means manure will be more
likely to be picked up by spring
runoff. Manure spreading is
primarily a waste disposal
process, and only secondarily a
fertilizer.

Why its not being stopped

The Clean Water Act of 1972 only regulates
the chemicals and contaminants that travel
through ditches and pipes.
That means it does not apply to the animal
waste that is put on fields or crops and then
seeps into the ground water.

Its hard to pinpoint the source of contamination, even

when tests reveal that the drinking water is polluted.

Americans
that fall ill
each year,
39%

19,500,000

U.S.
317,297,938
Population
, 61%

Each year 19.5 million

Americans fall ill each year
due to water
contamination including
bacteria, parasites, and
viruses.

Runoff from factory farms cause algal

blooms that depletes water of its
oxygen and kills fish.

Effects from an algal bloom in Lake Eerie

Grand St. Marys Lake

Conservation practices effective in

improving water quality:
Improved irrigation management
systems
Drainage management systems
Improved manure management
practices
Treatment technologies
According to Dale Bucks, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Program Leader

THERE ARE NOW INCENTIVE

PAYMENTS FOR FARMERS,
RANCHERS, AND
LANDOWNERS WHO PRACTICE
FARMING THAT REDUCES
WATER CONTAMINATION ON
AGRICULTURAL LANDS.

HOW WOULD YOU STOP

FACTORY FARM RUNOFF?