Despite fish kills, toxic algae blooms, unsafe beaches and an annual dead zone in the Lake Michigan bay sparking concern across the region, the level of phosphorus loading has changed little over the past two decades, and even gone up in the past couple of years. “I’m part of the problem,” said John Pagel of Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, one of the largest farms in Wisconsin, at a summit hosted by U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble in Green Bay. “But I’m also part of the solution.”
Tag: manure
Posted inEnvironment, Government, Health & Welfare
U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble convenes dairies, DNR to discuss Green Bay phosphorus pollution
Phosphorus flowing into the bay causes fish kills, toxic algae blooms and an annual dead zone. “I felt it was important to bring the stakeholders together, and see if we could maybe stop pointing fingers at each other, and start pointing fingers at solutions,” Rep. Ribble said about the April 1 event he’s hosting.
Posted inEnvironment, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Environmental groups ask EPA to study drinking water pollution from Kewaunee County dairies
Citing a rash of contaminated wells, the groups point to manure from animal agriculture as the leading risk to the region’s drinking water supplies and therefore the health of residents — and say state and local authorities have not done enough.
Posted inEnvironment, Government, Groundwater supply
Surge in big dairies backdrop for local efforts to curb cows’ environmental impacts
The growth in large dairies, and concerns about manure disposal from operations of all sizes, have fueled efforts to more tightly regulate their operations or siting. Here’s a partial roundup.
Posted inEnvironment, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Bad wells spur Kewaunee County to mull waste-spreading restrictions
A proposal to ban waste spreading in winter and early spring on fields with shallow soil is facing opposition from powerful agricultural interests and questions about its legality.
Posted inEnvironment, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
In state’s karst area, even good farming may pollute groundwater
Two new studies of private well water in Kewaunee County have linked contamination to fertilizer, livestock manure and human waste. “In these shallow bedrock areas, what you put on the surface, you will end up drinking eventually,” county conservationist Andy Wallander said.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
How to make a digester profitable: Veggies and poker chips
The greenhouse and its veggies are one example of a new cottage industry popping up across the country to capitalize on the waste energy, methane gas and the nutrient-rich solids that are emitted from a digester.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Manure digesters seen as best hope for curbing lake pollution, but drawbacks remain
Since 2001, manure digesters have been popping up across the state. Wisconsin now has 34, the most in the nation, with two more scheduled to begin operating by 2015. In all these digesters, bacteria eat biomass like manure, food scraps or whey and emit energy in the form of methane gas.
Posted inEnvironment, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Manure spraying under scrutiny
Life for Wisconsin families has been disrupted by the relatively rare practice in Wisconsin of using water irrigation systems to spray liquid manure on farm fields. Now the issue has taken on new urgency as more large dairy farms consider using the practice.
Posted inEnvironment, Health & Welfare
Johns Hopkins researchers warn Wisconsinites near large livestock farms of public health, environmental concerns
Six leading researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health are warning northeastern Wisconsin rural residents that over-application of manure at intensive livestock operations could cause them a host of health problems and damage the environment.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, WisWatch Blog
Podcast and gallery: Karst + waste + drinking water = trouble
Two bonus features supplementing last week’s major package on estrogenic wells in Wisconsin’s karst region.
Posted inEndocrine disruptors, Environment, Water Watch Wisconsin
Expert: Managing manure keeps emerging pollutants out of water
“A well-managed place is not going to get manure into the groundwater,” said Laurence Shore, a physiologist in Israel who studies the fate of hormones in the environment. With a video tour of an anaerobic digester at the two-dairy, 8,000-cow Holsum Dairies in Calumet County.