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The record rains that began with Hurricane Florence continue to weigh on the lagoons of North Carolina hogs.
Due to the storm, at least 77 state lagoons have either dumped pork waste into the environment or are at risk of doing so, according to data released Tuesday by the Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. North. This figure has more than doubled compared to the day before, while the department had 34 people.
When a pig in a large-scale farm urine or faeces, the waste falls into gratings hollow below. These troughs are periodically rinsed in a soil hole in the ground called a lagoon in a mixture of water, pig excrement and anaerobic bacteria. The bacteria digest the manure and give the lagoons their pink-gum pink coloring.
North Carolina has 9.7 million hogs producing 10 billion gallons of manure, mainly on large farms, mainly in Sampson and Dupin counties. Both counties were touched by Florence.
When storms like those in Florence occur, the lagoons can release their waste into the environment through structural damage, for example when rains erode the banks of a lagoon and cause breaches. They can also overflow precipitation or be swept away by floodwaters.
Whatever the cause, the result in case of leakage from a lagoon can be an environmental problem. If untreated waste enters rivers, for example, seaweed collapses and massive fish kills can occur, as they did in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd. That year, many animals drowned in manure.
Pig lagoons and associated large farms, also known as concentrated animal feed operations (CAFO), have been a sore spot in the eastern part of the state where residents state that operations are harming their health and their well-being.
A recent Duke University A study published online this week revealed that these complaints may have some merit.
"Life expectancy in North Carolina communities, near porcine CAFOs, remains low even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors known to affect health and life span," said Dr. Kim Lyerly. , professor of cancer research at Duke. . Duke's study fails to establish a causal link.
Voice of Experience
We asked survivors of past hurricanes to share tips.
Last week, Andy Curliss, general manager of the North Carolina Pork Council, said the hog producers had learned a lot from Hurricane Floyd. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew caused the flooding of 14 lagoons, but none broke, according to the hog's council.
"Many farms that were floodwere bought and closed, "he said. "That's why you did not see the same impact in Matthew – we had maybe 15 floods, no breaches."
On Tuesday afternoon, the The North Carolina Pork Council website lists only 26 storm-affected lagoons, much less than the number cited by the Department of Environmental Quality.
As farmers approached Florence, farmers tried to clear space in the lagoons before the storm by spraying manure on the fields, said Heather Overton, spokesman for the state's Department of Agriculture.
Will Hendrick, a lawyer with the Waterkeeper Alliance non-profit group, said manure sprayed on fields could flow into rivers, streams and groundwater if fields were flooded.
Excess nitrates in groundwater, such as those associated with pig manure, are linked to health problems such as blue baby syndrome. In certain cases From the syndrome, nitrogen binds to hemoglobin in the baby's blood and makes the red blood cells unable to carry oxygen. The name of the syndrome comes from the fact that the lack of oxygen causes a bluish tinge of the baby's skin. The syndrome can also be caused by heart abnormalities.
Part of the problem, said Alexis Andiman, an associate advocate of the non-profit law firm Earthjustice, is that the storm standards for pork lagoons date back to the 1960s.
As part of a settlement for a lawsuit that Earthjustice imposed on the state, "The storm standard will be tied to a 2006 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Board standard, "said Andiman. "But it's still old."
Data from the Department of Environmental Quality are self-reported by farmers, many of whom may have left their farms to avoid storm surges and floods. The number of spills reported could increase as more farmers return to their farms. But fortunately, in an area that has experienced too much rain, the forecast for the rest of the week is usually sunny.
For more information on the climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.
Kendra Pierre-Louis is a journalist at the Climate Team. Before joining The Times in 2017, she covered science and the environment for popular science. @kendrawrites
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