Federal & State Agencies that strive to help!

There are also local, state and government agencies like The Humane Society of America and the Humane Farmers Association that help local farmers. These agencies strive to help assist farms that de-concentrate the animals, which in turn lowers manure intake.

The Humane Society of American has been around for over hundred years and is an agency that specializes in animal cruelty and animal welfare. Their primary goal is to strength the bond between animal and human.  The agency has been very active with local farmers and communities in educational solution on animal control.  They hold the golden bar as the most effective agency in visionary and effective animal welfare in the nation. Please visit https://www.americanhumane.org for more information.

The Humane Farming Association was founded in 1985 and have over 250,00 members strong.  The Humane Farmers Association is the most effected organization dedicated to the protection of farm animals.  Humane Farmers Association main goals is to keep farm animals from cruelty and abuse and protect the environment from the impacts of industrial factories of animal farms.

The Humane Farmers Association has played a huge part in the environmental destruction in educating and assisting local farmers.  They have programs that communities can get involved in to help eliminate animal cruelty and how to stay active with environmental solutions to preserve the surrounding areas. Please visit http://www.hfa.org for more information on how to get involved.

These are just a few agencies that are out there that you can get involved with to help prevent disasters with the overflow of manure lagoons.  The economic impact of the pork industries has been huge for the country but the hog waste has also had a negative impact economically.  Please help support agencies and companies that help to eliminate the negative impact and to help with animal control.

References

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2017, from https://www.americanhumane.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0un-q5WP1QIVlBuBCh04Nw4oEAAYAyAAEgLanPD_BwE

HFA – The Humane Farming Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2017, from http://www.hfa.org/

A Project of Humane Farm Animal Care. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2017, from http://certifiedhumane.org/

Manure Lagoon Hazards

zThe USDA estimates that there is over 330 million tons of manure that is stored for months in specific manure lagoons. Manure Lagoons are large human made ponds lined with rubber to prevent manure to leak into the groundwater. Unfortunately, The US Environmental Protection Agency has documented that 55% of the lagoons infrastructure is broken. The lagoons have major leaks, broken banks, and torn rubber liners.  These major leaks have impacted local communities, farmers, and water reservoirs.  These leaks have cause tremendous damage and has caused economic impact on farms and local communities.  These leaks have contaminated rivers and water reservoirs that supply drinking water to surrounding communities.

Other concerns are major storms like severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, or hurricanes. They cause over flows and erosion break down of the banks which are direct threat to the quality of soil, to water system, local farmers, communities and to the atmosphere. When Hurricane Matthews hit North Carolina in 2016, it killed more than 5 million poultry and hogs. It caused over 2.3 billion in damages and flooded the Neuse River.  When the Neuse River crested its banks, it flooded 5 county’s that are known for their pork production and hold 25oo manure lagoons.  The water levels were so drastic that the lagoons could not hold and their banks were crested with 3oo tons of manure leaking into the flooding waters contaminating all surrounding areas.  Some local communities and towns were without drinking water for months due to the contamination of the manure.

The lagoons have proven over time to be hazardous and not reliable. There is other solution to maintain and store manure that not only economically impact the communities and farmers but also help keep the environment and water supplies safe.  Companies like Aqua-Aerobic have wastewater treatment equipment and systems that have improved manure management worldwide. Please visit their website to get more information at Aqua-Aerobic.com.

References

Philpott, T. (2017, June 23). Hurricane Matthew killed millions of farm animals in North Carolina. Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/10/hurricane-matthew-killed-animals-hog-poop/

Charles, D. (2016, November 04). Manure Happens, Especially When Hog Farms Flood. Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/11/04/500701098/manure-happens-especially-when-hog-farms-flood

https://thinkprogress.org/hurricane-matthew-flooding-climate-change-fb980c7c453a

Aero-Aerobic System making a difference.

Aqua-Aerobic Systems is a company that serves customers worldwide that specializes in wastewater treatment equipment. Their products are performance-proven, highest quality of products and systems that have proven to be adaptable to changing water and contaminated wastewater.  Aqua-Aerobic has a system called the Sequence Batch Reactor. The Batch Reactor has a Five-step process where it breaks down the manure from solids to liquid.

Stage 1 is the Fill basin. The basin is filled with wastewater and biomass that will settle down to the bottom of the tank. The influent brings food to the microbes in the activated sludge, creating an environment for biochemical reactions to take place. Stage 2 is the React.  Air is added to the tank to aid in biological growth and to facilitate subsequence waste reduction. Stage 3 is Settle. During this stage, the solids will settle to the bottom of the tank while the mixing and aeration has stopped. Stage 4 is Decant. During this stage, decanter is used to remove the clear supernatant effluent. Stage 5 is Idle. During this phase, a small amount of solid that is still at the bottom of the tank is then pumped out- a process called wasting.

During these stages, the particles of the manure is then reduced to the organic carbon and converts the ammonia to nitrate which in turn, is nitrogen gas that is safely released in the atmosphere. This Batch Reactor is a safer and proven method that can maintain large quantity of manure and remove the harmful gases that are escaping from manure lagoons. Areo-Aerobic is a company that is still improving their standards on wastewater management. Please help support them by visiting their website at Areo-Aerobic.com or call (877) 271-9694 to get more information on how you can help secure a safer environment for all.

References

Total Water Management Solutions > Biological, Filtration, Membranes and Controls – Aqua-Aerobic Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://www.aqua-aerobic.com/

http://web.deu.edu.tr/atiksu/ana07/epa02.html

http://www.iwapublishing.com/news/sequencing-batch-reactor

The Dangers of Manure.

When you have over 20 million pigs in the state of North Carolina, you will have overwhelming mounds of manure that comes with it. Now, the farmers have benefited from having all this manure by using it to fertilize their crops. Being able to use their own manure, they have been able to cut cost on fertilizing their crops but have also increased their growth in crops. Over time though, there has been some serious economic, environmental, and health issues with storing the amount of manure in large capacities.  When manure is stored for months, it goes through a process of decomposition.

During this process, the manure is releasing over 400 harmful gases like Methane, Ammonia and Hydrogen Sulfide. The most serious one from a health standpoint is Hydrogen Sulfide. Hydrogen Sulfide is colorless and has a rotten egg smell to it in low concentration. However, in most cases of manure lagoons, there is high amounts of manure its harder to smell Hydrogen Sulfide in high concentration amounts. Hydrogen Sulfide is heavier than air, so it will settle more towards that ground or in low areas giving it harder to detect.

Another harmful gas is Methane. This gas is lighter than air, also colorless and odorless.  Methane causes asphyxiate in high amounts of manure that is stored. What also makes methane so deadly is that it’s very flammable and explosive with the right concentration of agitating and stirring the mound.

Ammonia is also a colorless gas like Methane.  Its lighter than air but deadly when there is huge amount of manure stored.  Ammonia has a pungent odor that is released into the air and can also cause asphyxiation.

These gases are harmful to our environment and to our air supply.  These gases have caused fatal deaths among animals and farmers.  Please help support USDA and Federal and State Agricultural agencies to improve storage for manure and limit the harmful effects that is occurring.

 

Beware of Toxic Gases From Manure Storages (Crops and Soils). (2012, October 02). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://extension.psu.edu/plants/crops/news/2012/10/beware-of-toxic-gases-from-manure-storages

 

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/10/hurricane-matthew-killed-animals-hog-poop/ Rick Dove/Waterkeeper Alliance

 

Environmentally Safe Hog Waste Disposal Methods. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/221/environmentally-safe-hog-waste-disposal-methods/