Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs): Issues in Water Quality

1. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs):Issues in Water Quality M. D. Smolen Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Oklahoma State University

2. What is a CAFO? CAFO is an animal feeding operation with 1000 or more Animal Units are confined for: • 45 days or more per year • In an area without vegetation In other words they are not grazing on pasture, but are being fed with concentrated feed.

3. 1000 Animal Units • 1000 beef • 700 dairy (milking or dry) • 2500 swine (55 lb or larger) • 30,000 laying hens (with overflow watering) Note overflow watering has not been used for almost 30 years. So poultry are generally not considered CAFOs.

4. If there is discharge through a pipe or “man-made conveyance” the numbers change… • 300 animal units is a CAFO • 300 feeder cattle • 200 dairy cattle • 750 swine • 10,000 laying hens (with overflow watering) • An erosion gully is considered a “man-made conveyance.”

5. CAFO is not a new issue • CAFOs were designated Point Sourcesin the 1972 Clean Water Act. • Discharge permits were first required in 1976 under NPDES. • Very few permits were issued for CAFOs. • December 2000, the courts gave EPA 2 years to address CAFOs.

6. The Stormwater Permit • EPA uses stormwater permiting to define runoff from a CAFO as a Point Source. • CAFOs are one of the standard industrial sources to be regulated through NPDES.

7. National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) • 43 states have authority to issue permits for Point Sources • 7 have no authority for NPDES • Only Oklahoma has authority for everything but CAFOs

8. What are the Water Quality Concerns of Animal Agriculture? • Oxygen Demanding Substances (BOD) • Pathogens • Nitrogen and Phosphorus (fertilizer) • Organic matter • Salts and toxic metals

9. BOD Values of Animal Waste

10. Pathogens from Animal Manure • E. coli - intestinal bacteria cause illness or death. • Salmonella - intestinal bacteria cause food poisoning. • Giardia - intestinal parasite • Cryptosporidia - intestinal parasite • Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance

11. Fertilizer Nitrogen and Phosphorus • Causes excessive growth of Algae and Macrophytes. • Result: Eutrophication (over-enrichment) • Better Fishing! • Fish kills, taste and odor in drinking water • Poor aesthetics • Toxicity. This is the problem in the Tulsa water supply.

12. How do the pollutants get into water? • Runoff from feedlots and exercise areas • Runoff from waste application areas • Direct deposition in creeks • Overflow of lagoons • Leaching to ground water

13. Beef Feedlots are the classic form of • CAFO with well-known problems: • Excess manure • Nutrients • Salts • Odor

14. Beef Feedlots • Small feedlots have thousands of animals. (CAFO size). • Feedlots are open to the air (stormwater). • Their lagoons are often located in dammed up stream channels. • Most have mountains of manure waiting to be recycled.

15. Dairies are CAFOs. • Dairies have always had water quality problems • They concentrate and feed cattle. • They do not produce their own feed. • They cannotrecycle nutrients. In the 1980’s dairies were one of the biggest Water quality problems.

16. Dairies (continued) • Oklahoma’s largest aquatic animal • This is a very common sight near smaller dairies.

17. Dairies • Small dairies are often badly located. • Small dairies may have labor-intensive manure handling. • Small dairies can keep animals on grass most of the time. • Modern large dairies keep animals under roof all the time.

18. But everyone thinks of hogs.

19. Are pigs really a problem? • Pigs don’t wade in the creek. • Pigs are under roof and on concrete (no stormwater runoff). • Pig waste is treated in lagoons. • Lagoon effluent is recycled to crops.

20. Should hogs be considered CAFOs? • They are confined in large numbers. • Contract farms usually have 2400 animals or more. • Corporate farms may have 100,000 animals or more. • But the animals are always under roof, so there is no stormwater. The problem is overflow from the lagoon and runoff/percolation from the application area.

21. Should Poultry be CAFOs?

22. Poultry • Litter (manure and bedding) in the house is not the water quality problem. • Litter is spread for fertilizer on pastures.

23. Phosphorus builds up where litter is used for fertilizer.

24. Cattle are always associated with poultry. • Poultry litter is a cheap fertilizer. • Cattle return most nutrients to the land. • Nutrients flow through the system.

25. What are the real concerns for a CAFO? • Stormwater runoff. • The system must handle all rainfall it receives without overtopping. • Process water may be small. • Manure nutrients must be captured and recycled to crops. • Lagoon should not leak.

26. USGS has found contamination of ground water below feedlots, even in the pan handle, where ground water is hundreds of feet deep.

27. Disposal area (cropland) Storm water Percolation depends on areaand season. (Very little leakage) How waste contamination gets to ground water Process water

28. Disposal area (cropland) Storm water Percolation depends on areaand season. (Very little leakage) How streams get contaminated with nitrate. In eastern Oklahoma, poultry litter is spread in areas with very coarse texture. Ground water connects with surface water.

29. We won’t discuss the other type of animal waste.

30. This might even be a CAFO, or worse.

31. What are the real concerns for a CAFO? • Small dairies are often located on creeks or rivers. • Cattle are confined in the vicinity of the milking parlor much of the day. • Manure may be spread too close to the barn. Keep cattle on grass as much as possible. Don’t create a CAFO.

32. Oklahoma has a CAFO Permit that requires: • Pollution Prevention Plan and Record Keeping • Detention of all contaminated runoff • Land application of waste at agronomic rates • Pesticides stored, handled, and disposed properly • All discharge reported to EPA

33. The Pollution Prevention Plan 1. Waste Management/Nutrient Utilization Plan 2. List of Potential Pollutants 3. Pesticide Storage and Handling 4. Erosion and Sediment Control Plan 5. Employee Training 6. Record Keeping

34. The CAFO General Permit Seeks to Protect the EnvironmentWith minimal disruption of Agriculture. Education is neededandA good Faith Effort is needed.

35. EPA Proposes changes to affect all states: • Eliminate 25-yr 24-hr exemption (Stormwater rule connection). • Remove exemption for poultry • Co-permitting of integrator and owner • Include manure application area in the CAFO permit

36. EPA Proposed Changes • Require certification of agronomic use from off-site recipients of manure • Require a “Permit Nutrient Plan” (PNP) • Allow producer to opt out if there is “no chance of discharge”

37. EPA Solicits Comments on… • Everything, but particularly: • Two-tiered at either 750 or 500 animal units • Elimination of 25-yr 24-hr exclusion • Requiring all AFOs above size to get permit. • Co-permitting • Eliminating stormwater exemption to agriculture if manure not used at agronomic rate.

38. EPA Solicits Comments on… • Public availability of PNPs • Certification for off-site recipients • Whether all new facilities should apply

39. Everyone can comment. • By email: CAFOS.comments@epa.gov • Use ASCII or Word Perfect • By US Mail: