With Tropical Storm Hanna warnings posted along the North Carolina Coast, a Neuse Riverkeeper air patrol found that of the swine farms surveyed, nearly 60% were spraying swine waste on their fields. While this conduct is unregulated, it is considered harmful to the environment. On days when conditions are optimal, spraying rates rarely exceed 30 to 40%
On Thursday and Friday, September 6th and 7th, the Pamlico-Tar RIVERKEEPER observed several local hog farms spraying .Tropical storm Hanna came through the area on Friday and Saturday, with outerbands of rain beginning close to noon on Friday in Pitt and BeaufortCounties. Two farms located in the Chicod Creek watershed were found to be spraying on both days approximately 60-90 minutes prior to the first down pour. The farms, Fairwinds and High Ridge, were spraying liquid manure that comes from animal waste storage lagoons. Both farms' sprayfields are adjacent to Chicod Creek tributaries or ditches that drain to the creek. Chicod Creek is considered to be a degraded waterway by the State Division of Water Quality.The High Ridge farm was found to be spraying on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning in the same area of their sprayfield. Friday morning saw gusts of winds that appeared to blow sprayed hog waste off-site and into adjacent woods. The photos to the left and above were taken around 10:30 am on Friday, September 5, 2008. The photo found below was what PittCounty looked like at noon that same day. Currently, state permits for industrial animal operations allow this type of spraying prior to tropical systems or hurricanes. It is a common site to see these industrial animal operations applying liquid waste in the days and hours prior to heavy rains. Such actions can lead to export of high amounts of nutrients and fecal matter into local streams and rivers. Currently, the state of North Carolina has around 10 million hogs, second only to Iowa. The majority of these industrial farms are located east of I-95. The Tar-Pamlico river basin is home to 1/2 million hogs. Add in the CapeFear and NeuseRiver basins, and you'll find 70% of North Carolina's hog populations. PTRF along with other NC Waterkeepers and Waterkeeper Alliance are working to amend the state's general permit to restrict this type of spraying prior to tropical systems. Further work on this issue includes:
weekly aerial and on-the-ground monitoring of waste application and documenting any Clean Water Act violations;
advocacy to include state rules that require water quality monitoring where sprayfields contain streams or ditches that drain to streams;
coordination of an annual Raleigh Hog Vigil to bring the message that hog lagoons and sprayfields are antiquated systems that cause water quality pollution and degrade the public's health;
Organizing National CAFO conference in eastern North Carolina in coordination with Waterkeeper Alliance Pure Farms, Pure Water Campaign ;
Lobbying to fight changes to the Swine Farm Siting Act Amendments that would strip public protections.
The state of North Carolina prohibits the spraying of swine waste in the rain.
Ten days after Tropical Storm Hanna hit North Carolina, some swine producers were still spraying their pig waste during precipitation events.
Runoff to rivers and streams is facilitated through this illegal activity. See it happening in a short video taken on September 16,2008 by clicking the movie icon below.
