Pig Farm Manure Lagoons Ineffective in Controlling Pollution

John has written before about how manure lagoons may become a liability in a warming climate, but even now the practice of storing vast amounts of animal waste in anaerobic lagoons is causing major environmental concerns. Science Daily points to new research showing that manure storage lagoons in North and South Carolina have proliferated over the last 15 years in response to more, larger hog farms—and that these lagoons are not as effective as first thought at decontaminating waste. While Duke University may be turning pig poop into power, many, many other farms continue to leach toxins into the surrounding environment: "After analyzing eight lagoons and measuring the abundance of four nitrogen cycling genes, researchers concluded that the denitrifying and nitrifying organisms were not active despite there being a thriving amount. Acidification and eutrophication of the surrounding ecosystem could be the result of prolonged exposure to volatilized ammonia."