Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations CAFOs: Issues in Water Quality

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Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs)Issues in Water Quality

• M. D. Smolen
• Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering
• Oklahoma State University

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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What are the Water Quality Concerns of Animal
Agriculture?

• Oxygen Demanding Substances (BOD)
• Pathogens
• Nitrogen and Phosphorus (fertilizer)
• Organic matter
• Salts and toxic metals

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BOD Values of Animal Waste
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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

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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• 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 1980s dairies were one of the biggest
Water quality problems.
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Dairies (continued)

• Oklahomas largest aquatic animal
• This is a very common sight near smaller
  dairies.

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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.

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But everyone thinks of hogs.
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Are pigs really a problem?

• Pigs dont 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.

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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.

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Should Poultry be CAFOs?
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Poultry

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

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Phosphorus builds up where litter is used for
fertilizer.
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Cattle are always associated with poultry.

• Poultry litter is a cheap fertilizer.
• Cattle return most nutrients to the land.
• Nutrients flow through the system.

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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.

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USGS has found contamination of ground water
below feedlots, even in the pan handle, where
ground water is hundreds of feet deep.
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How waste contamination gets to ground water
Process water
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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.
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We wont discuss the other type of animal waste.
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This might even be a CAFO, or worse.
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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. Dont
  create a CAFO.

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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

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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

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

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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

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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.

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EPA Solicits Comments on

• Public availability of PNPs
• Certification for off-site recipients
• Whether all new facilities should apply

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Everyone can comment.

• By email CAFOS.comments_at_epa.gov
• Use ASCII or Word Perfect
• By US Mail

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