Can Spills from Swine Lagoons Result in Downstream Health Hazards?
A typical pen format for swine in many Iowa animal feeding operations
Livestock manure spills have been shown to result from events such as equipment failures, over-application of manure to agricultural fields, runoff from open feedlots, storage overflow, accidents with manure transporting equipment, and severe weather.
Our specialized teams of hydrologists, chemists, biologists and geologists, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, studied a stream in Iowa after the release of a large volume of swine manure (a manure spill) caused a fish kill in the impacted stream.
The scientists observed an increase in viruses and bacteria, which have the potential to cause human or swine disease, in the stream water and(or) stream bed sediments as far as 4 kilometers from the spill origin for several weeks.
Questions We're Working On:
How often do these spills occur?
Is there an actual health hazard posed to downstream livestock, wildlife, or the public as a result of these spills?
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Food Resources Lifecycle Integrated Science Team
Livestock manure spills have been shown to result from events such as equipment failures, over-application of manure to agricultural fields, runoff from open feedlots, storage overflow, accidents with manure transporting equipment, and severe weather.
Our specialized teams of hydrologists, chemists, biologists and geologists, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, studied a stream in Iowa after the release of a large volume of swine manure (a manure spill) caused a fish kill in the impacted stream.
The scientists observed an increase in viruses and bacteria, which have the potential to cause human or swine disease, in the stream water and(or) stream bed sediments as far as 4 kilometers from the spill origin for several weeks.
Questions We're Working On:
How often do these spills occur?
Is there an actual health hazard posed to downstream livestock, wildlife, or the public as a result of these spills?
Below are other science projects associated with this project.