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Effect of Concentrated Animal Feed Operations on Ground-water Quality
Research Advisor: Stephen R. Hutchins, Ph.D.(580)436-8563 email hutchins.steve@epa.gov
There have been substantial changes in the US animal production industry
over the past several decades. Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs)
are increasing in size and generating considerably more waste requiring
disposal over an increasingly limited area. Manure and wastewater from
CAFOs have
the potential to contribute pollutants such as nutrients, heavy metals,
hormones, antibiotics, and pathogens to the subsurface environment. Unfortunately,
there
is little data on the potential for groundwater contamination from these
sources. GWERD has initiated research designed to explore the potential
for
groundwater
contamination by suspect contaminants at two selected commercial swine
operations in Oklahoma. Ground-water samples are obtained quarterly and
analyzed for nutrients,
metals, antibiotics, pathogen indicator organisms, and toxicity indices.
Results from this effort will be used to help determine whether groundwater
aquifers
are at risk from these types of operations, and to aid in the development
of sound risk management strategies for optimizing land use practices in
the animal industry.
Independent of these current activities, several research opportunities have
been identified which will provide necessary information for more completely
assessing environmental impacts from these types of operations. These include,
but are not limited to, laboratory studies using microcosms for assessing transport
and fate of major contaminants, source tracking using molecular techniques for
characterizing bacteria and viruses to be used as tracers of animal wastes, evaluating
the degree to which CAFOs contribute antibiotics to the subsurface and confer
antibiotic resistance to soil and subsurface micro-organisms, and ascertaining
the degree to which CAFOs contribute hormones (such as natural and synthetic
estrogens) to groundwater.