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Clean Water and Factory Farms
Protect America's Water From Factory Farm Pollution "These factory farms are environmental disasters." America's drinking water, rivers and lakes are at risk from giant, corporate- owned animal factories. These Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) create one of the nation's most dangerous water pollution problems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. Livestock produce an enormous amount of waste - about 500 million tons of manure a year. But the corporate livestock industry's waste disposal practices - spraying it onto croplands or storing it in open-air waste pits called lagoons - often result in leaks, spills and runoff that pollute ground and surface water and create a health risk to people and wildlife. That's why the Sierra Club is calling for a moratorium on new large CAFOs until our clean-water protections are strengthened, and the massive pollution from current facilities is eliminated. CAFOs Threaten America's Public Health Poisoned water supplies and air pollution from CAFOs have become a fact of life for too many communities. Animal-factory pollution contributes to a range of physical and mental ailments in people, including headaches, nausea, depression and even death. Livestock waste has been linked to six miscarriages in women living near a hog factory in Indiana. In Milwaukee, cow manure is believed to have contributed to the cryptosporidium contamination of public drinking water that killed more than 100 people and sickened hundreds of thousands more. In addition, the staggering amount of antibiotics used merely to promote faster livestock growth is creating drug-resistant bacterial infections, making it harder to protect the public from disease. CAFOs Threaten America's Drinking Water, Lakes, and Rivers Massive hog-manure spills from these facilities' giant waste-holding lagoons - 23 million gallons spilled from one lagoon alone - have killed billions of fish and contaminated waterways across the country. Chicken and hog waste from factory farms in Maryland and North Carolina have washed into the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina rivers, triggering outbreaks of the toxic microbe pfiesteria that have sickened people and killed millions of fish. And animal waste flowing from the Mississippi River has helped create a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that has grown to the size of New Jersey. CAFOs Threaten Our Rural Communities Factory farms are displacing the local family farm and rapidly altering a way of life for many rural communities. In the past 15 years, the number of hog farms has dropped from 600,000 to 157,000, but the total hog inventory for the United States has remained virtually the same because of the increase in these large- scale corporate animal factories. The decline of neighborhood farms also hurts other local businesses that depend on these farmers to buy their grain, farm equipment and other products. And the air and water pollution these factory farms create depresses the real estate values of nearby properties. In one Illinois county, property values for homes near the smelly operations plummeted by 30 percent. Family Farms, Not Factory Farms In many communities, family farmers, environmentalists and rural residents are working together to protect their environment and public health from CAFOs. Protests, petitions and lawsuits against these factories are becoming commonplace across the country. Today, these citizen coalitions are working to enact strong federal, state and local regulations to protect us all and to keep corporations from moving to states with weaker laws. CAFOs are industrial facilities, not farms, and must be regulated as such. Watching our children swim in a nearby lake or drink a glass of tap water should not be a cause for concern. Only by working together can we fight to keep our water safe for drinking, fishing and swimming, and protect our health and communities from this growing threat. Solutions The best way to protect our water, public health and communities is to:
Contact Us For information about the Sierra Club and factory farms: For media inquiries: The Sierra Club's Campaign to Protect America's Water from Factory Farm Pollution is supported and implemented by the more than 650,000 Sierra Club members in Chapters and Groups across America. The Sierra Club has four national priority campaigns: protect America's water from factory farm pollution; protect wildlands; challenge sprawl; and end commercial logging in our national forests. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use |
