EPA Says Farms Worst Water Polluter
Agriculture is the biggest polluter of America’s rivers and streams, fouling more than 173,000 miles of waterways with chemicals, erosion and animal waste runoff, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.
Farming is responsible for 70% of waterway pollution, outstripping sewage plants, urban storm sewers and pollution deposited from the air, the EPA said. The problems blamed on farming include those that harm aquatic life or restrict human use of rivers and streams.
“You can see there is a significant problem out there,” EPA waste-water management director Michael Cook told the House Agriculture Committee.
Cook’s comments underscored the EPA’s proposed regulations on big livestock feeding operations, which confine thousands of animals in a small space and produce huge amounts of waste. The rules are the first step of several as EPA updates the Clean Water Act.
About 20% of waterway pollution was traced to livestock waste in 22 states that looked at specific sectors of agriculture, he said. Although waste spills sometimes occur, most of the problem stems from its use as fertilizer.
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