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Hog farms near Trenton, North Carolina, were flooded as a result of Hurricane Florence.
Credit: Steve Helber / AP / REX / Shutterstock
The heavy floods caused by Hurricane Florence are causing a pig poo problem in North Carolina.
According to figures published by North Carolina, pig waste is often dumped in nearby state lagoons. Department of Environmental Quality Today (September 19).
According to the department, at least 36 other similar lagoons are also likely to overflow – and five others are structurally damaged. [Hurricane Florence: Photos of a Monster Storm]
North Carolina is the second largest pork state in the United States, according to Quartz. It has about 2,100 industrial-scale pork farms with waste lagoons containing pig manure and poo-eating bacteria. In terms of the source of the waste, the state is home to more than 9 million pigs, most of whom live in Sampson and Duplin counties affected by the storm, according to the BBC.
According to the New York Times, if the waste comes out of these lagoons, it could wreak havoc on the environment. For example, in 1999, the rains and floods caused by Hurricane Floyd caused waste to enter the rivers – and what followed was the proliferation of algae and the massive loss of fish.
According to the Times, there is also concern that pork lagoons and their farms will harm human health. For example, an excess of nitrate in groundwater (which may also come from pork manure) could cause what is known as blue baby syndrome, a disease caused by contaminated water in which baby's skin will turn blue , according to the Times.
According to a previous report from the Science of Life, some farmers drained parts of their lagoons from waste before emptying them by spraying liquid and spraying them as fertilizer in their fields. But according to the Times, if the sprayed fields were subsequently flooded, pork waste sprayed as fertilizer could also seep into rivers, streams and groundwater.
The issue published by the State Environmental Quality Department is based on farmer reports, according to the Times. And the number of lagoons affected could be higher, they wrote.
Originally published on Live Science.
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