Renewable Revolution

September 26, 2018
 
These factory farms produce enough pig waste to fill more than 15,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year. And that doesn't even include the 2 million tons of dry waste created by the poultry CAFOs. So where does it all go? Normally, thousands of waste lagoons contain it. That is, until a devastating hurricane hits.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

֍ Following Hurricane Florence, at least 132 CAFO waste lagoons had released pig waste into the environment or were at risk of doing so

֍ It’s estimated that 5,500 pigs and 3.4 million chickens drowned due to Florence flooding

֍ Before-and-after satellite images from the U.S. Geological Survey of a section of North Carolina coastline clearly show massive amounts of brown sludge pouring from inland waterways to the coast

֍ Liquefied pig waste may sicken people and contaminate water with pathogens like salmonella, giardia and E-coli

֍ Hog waste leaching or overflowing into waterways can also lead to algae overgrowth, depleting the water of oxygen and killing fish and other marine life in expansive dead zones

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