EPA Says Agriculture is Polluting 68% US Lakes, Reservoirs & Ponds

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In this Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 photo, Barb Kalbach stands near a hog confinement facility, near Orient, Iowa. Kalbach has fought for more than a decade against the construction of huge hog operations, and has joined Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a nonprofit that?s against such enterprises because members believe they are ruining Iowa?s waterways. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

According the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is the main culprit endangering about 68% of the country’s lakes, reservoirs and pond and more than half of its rivers and streams.

This is leading to lawsuits around the country against large-scale livestock farmers. Studies are showing high levels of bacteria, nitrate, and phosphorus from fertilizer and a build up of manure in water supplies. These contaminants can show up in well water in the affected areas at levels that may be harmful to humans and their pets. They also cause air pollution, and can lead to respiratory health problems.

Some farmers pump treated liquefied manure and urine into large sprinkler systems which fling it into their fields as fertilizer. You can imagine the smell drifting into the air and out to their neighbors!

If I lived in one of these affected areas and had a well for my drinking water, I’d be testing that water at least annually and I’d be sanitizing my well on the same schedule.

You can read the article written by David Pitt of the Associated Press where I read about this by going here: http://goo.gl/wFkKmY

To learn more about water testing and sanitizing your well go here: Drinking Water Specialists

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