Cargill Hog factory

[boba]

There will be a presentation in Harrison this evening from the NPS

http://buffaloriveralliance.org/event-1757547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dogpatch]

Was anyone able to attend? What were the findings?

[boba]

In a nutshell, it's difficult. The presentation addressed only amounts of E coli in the Buffalo and several tributaries. Levels of E Coli just upstream of Big Creek were lower than the levels just below, so E coli is coming from big creek into the Buffalo, BUT that is generally true of all samples above and below tributaries. They all contribute E coli to the Buffalo, so no smoking gun to date. A better question to ask, and will be asked with ongoing sampling is: Do the levels of E coli go up more below the confluence of Big Creek than below the confluence of other tributaries? The other tributaries don't have the state's largest hog CAFO in the watershed, so I'm guessing that it will show up on further testing.

Here's why, the E coli can basically sequester in the soil till rain events wash them out, over time as more bacteria accumulate in the soil from hog poop application, then larger pulses of poop with end up in the creek.

It looks like the Buffalo will have to become impaired down stream of Big Creek before anything is going to happen.

here is a link to much of the source material for Faron's Presentation:

http://buffaloriveralliance.org/Resourc ... t_2013.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;