Even in the absence of an increased production of corn ethanol, Mike Millikin tell us, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh warn that an aggressive nutrient management strategy is needed to reduce the extent of the Dead Zone located in the Basin of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers.
“Summertime satellite observations show highly turbid waters in the Gulf of Mexico which may include large blooms of phytoplankton extending from the mouth of the Mississippi River all the way to the Texas coast. When these blooms die and sink to the bottom, bacterial decomposition strips oxygen from the surrounding water, creating an environment very difficult for marine life to survive in. Reds and oranges represent high concentrations of phytoplankton and river sediment.”
The study focused upon how increased nitrate loadings contribute to the expansion of zones of hypoxia, i.e., oxygen depletion in aquatic eco-systems.
Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilizer have been found to promote excess growth of algae in water bodies—a problem that’s common across North America and in many areas of the world. In some cases, decomposition of algae consumes much of the oxygen in the water. Fertilizer applied to cornfields in the central US—including states such as Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin—is the primary source of nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi River system, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico.
It is unlikely that our Congress critters might admit that they made a mistake with their COB (Cruise On Booze) policy. And, with current efforts to incapacitate a “reluctant” (as nice a word as I could find) EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which is responsible for enforcement of the Clean Water Act, it is even more unlikely that Congress will challenge A-BAUAAAErs (those promoting Agri-Business As Usual And Above All Else).
While Big Oil, and the governments it owns, are not known for thinking about the future of life on the planet as we know it, we want to trust that those that feed us: “salt of the Earth” farmers — consider such issues. Unfortunately, for farmers, fishers and baby black bears that have joined The Colbert Nation, agri-business, a.k.a., Big Farm, is unlikely to adopt long term, sustainable practices.
While enforced buffer zones are needed, it would seem that pollution of the watershed by runoff (petroleum based fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides) will continue unabated. And, instead of a greater awareness that water is a precious, natural resource, we see in “advanced countries” a proliferation of factory farming.
Factory Farming
CAFO (Confined Animal Feed Operations). These techniques, to produce the highest output at the lowest cost, include the use of antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease, which is more likely to occur in high stocking environments. Factory farming practices also include questionable feeding practices, e.g., antibiotics and hormones to stimulate livestock growth and atypical feed supplementation.
Hazardous practices stemming from factory farming extend beyond discharge of ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus that can reduce oxygen levels in aquatic eco-systems and result in “dead zones”. The CDC has identified a number of pollutants associated with the discharge of animal waste into rivers and lakes.
The use of antibiotics may create antibiotic-resistant pathogens; parasites, bacteria, and viruses may be spread; pesticides and hormones may cause hormone-related changes in fish; animal feed and feathers may stunt the growth of desirable plants in surface waters and provide nutrients to disease-causing micro-organisms; trace elements such as arsenic and copper, which are harmful to human health, may contaminate surface waters.
Given that “clean, fresh drinking water is essential to human and other lifeforms”, it is alarming to consider a shortage of safe water.
Since Old King Coal won the 2008 election, this blog has focused more upon water pollution from the production of energy. Still, it is estimated that agriculture consumes approximately 70 percent of available freshwater. Something to give one pause for thought, eh?
GCC Recommended Resource
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Christine Costello, W. Michael Griffin, Amy E. Landis and H. Scott Matthew (2009) Impact of Biofuel Crop Production on the Formation of Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
doi: 10.1021/es9011433
Further Reading Recommended by Wikipedia
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“For too long,” writes HuffPo reporter Bruce Nilles (the post was co-written with Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign), “the coal industry has benefited from loopholes that no other industry enjoys.”
Nancy Stoner, Co-Director, Water Program, Washington, DC, writes about talk by the EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture about how to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The reports come as a result of an “Executive Order, signed by the President in May, that recognized the Chesapeake Bay as a national treasure.” The executive order “called for federal leadership in protecting our nation’s largest estuary.”
The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) is looking for a few big things from these reports:
4 of the top 5 states for pollution from factory hog farming, are part of the Mississippi / Atchafalaya watershed. According to Food and Water Watch, those states are 1-Iowa, 2-Minnesota, 4-Illinois and 5-Indiana. (North Carolina is 3rd.)
Iowa is responsible for 10% of pollution from factory farming throughout the Nation, 2nd only to California, which is responsible for 14% of total pollution, when you consider aggregate pollution from 3 types of factory farming — beef, dairy and hog.
Can I get a Agin, Dan?
“In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times,” the New York Times reports.
Well, at least now we are getting a better picture of why there is the potential of an evil alliance between Big Farm and King Coal for the same dirty business as usual. Writing for the NY Times, Charles Duhigg informs that “agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams.”
Thousands of large animal feedlots that should be regulated by EPA rules for factory farming “are effectively ignored because farmers never file paperwork… And regulations passed during the administration of President George W. Bush allow many of those farms to self-certify that they will not pollute, and thereby largely escape regulation.”
Carl Pope notes that “a half trillion dollar bill for deferred investment and maintenance in our clean water infrastructure (sewers and treatment plants)” has passed through the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, but has not yet passed out of its House counterpart. Although “we weren’t ready to take advantage of the stimulus bill to get that job funded,” notes the HuffPo contributor, if the Clean Water Restoration Act does receive proper attention, then it could undo previous folly — when “the Bush administration created enormous loopholes in the Clean Water Act by fiat — simply declaring that 60 percent of the headwaters of America’s rivers were not ‘waters of the United States.’”
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