Impacts to a Coastal river and estuary from rupture of a large swine waste holding lagoon

We tracked a swine waste spill (4.13 x 10(7) L) into a small receiving river and estuary. After 2 d, a 29-km freshwater segment that the wastes had traversed was anoxic, with ca. 4000 dead fish floating and hung in shoreline vegetation. Suspended solids, nutrients, and fecal coliforms were 10- to 10...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of environmental quality Vol. 26; no. 6; pp. 1451 - 1466
Main Authors:	Burkholder, J.M, Mallin, M.A, Glasgow, H.B. Jr, Larsen, L.M, McIver, M.R, Shank, G.C, Deamer-Melia, N, Briley, D.S, Springer, J, Touchette, B.W
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Madison, WI American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America 01-11-1997 Crop Science Society of America American Society of Agronomy
Subjects:	AGRICULTURE INTENSIVE ANIMAL WASTES Animal, plant and microbial ecology Applied ecology Biological and medical sciences CALIDAD DEL AGUA CAROLINA DEL NORTE CAROLINE DU NORD CRIANZA INTENSIVA DECHET DESECHOS Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution ELEVAGE INTENSIF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Estuaries EXPLOTACION AGRICOLA INTENSIVA Fresh water environment Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology IMPACT SUR L'ENVIRONNEMENT IMPACTO AMBIENTAL INTENSIVE FARMING INTENSIVE HUSBANDRY Lagoons MICROORGANISME MICROORGANISMOS MICROORGANISMS NORTH CAROLINA PFIESTERIA Pfiesteria piscicida Phaeocystis globosa POLLUTION DE L'EAU POLUCION DEL AGUA QUALITE DE L'EAU Synechococcus aeruginosa WASTES WATER POLLUTION WATER QUALITY North Carolina United States North America America ANW, USA, North Carolina USA, North Carolina Anoxia Algae Synechococcus Estuaries Spill Rivers Coliforms Epizootics Coastal lagoon Freshwater environment Suspended particle Vertebrata 1995 Pisces Cyanobacteria Bloom Bacteria Poison Nutrient Phytoplankton Water pollution Feces Animal waste Thallophyta
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	We tracked a swine waste spill (4.13 x 10(7) L) into a small receiving river and estuary. After 2 d, a 29-km freshwater segment that the wastes had traversed was anoxic, with ca. 4000 dead fish floating and hung in shoreline vegetation. Suspended solids, nutrients, and fecal coliforms were 10- to 100-fold higher at the plume's edge (71.7 mg SS/L, 39.6 mg NH4+-N/L, and 1 x 10(6) cfu/100 mL, respectively: cfu, colony forming units, SS; suspended solids) than in unaffected reference sites. Elevated nutrients and an oxygen sag from the plume reached the main estuary after ca. 5 d. Increased phytoplankton production was contributed by noxious algae, Synechococcus aeruginosa and Phaeocystis globosa (10(8) and 10(6) cells/mL, respectively) after 7 to 14 d. The toxic dinoflagellates, Pfiesteria piscicida and a second Pfiesteria-like species, increased to potentially lethal densities (10(3) cells/mL) that coincided with a fish kill and ulcerative epizootic. After 14 d, water-column fecal coliforms generally were at 10(2) to 10(3) cfu/100 mL. But where the plume had hovered for the first 5 d, surface sediments mostly yielded greater than or equal to 10(4) cfu/100 mL slurry, and after 61 d densities in surficial sediments were still at 10(3) to 10(4) cfu/100 mL. Dinoflagellate and euglenoid blooms developed and moved down-estuary, where they were detected after 61 d. This study documented acute impacts to surfacewaters from a concentrated swine operation, and examined some environmental policies affecting the intensive animal operation industry
Bibliography:	1997071010 T01 M01 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0047-2425 1537-2537
DOI:	10.2134/jeq1997.00472425002600060003x