This is a fairly even-handed editorial regarding the new regs regarding poultry waste disposal and fertilization.
Editorial: Here come the regs
Like it or not, Carroll County farmers are about to be force-fed a series of new regulations that are intended, in essence, to stifle grumblings from Missouri and Oklahoma.
This is a northwest Arkansas thing, aimed directly at the poultry industry. And everyone has seen it coming for years.
Every poultry feeding operation in the county - 316 broiler operations, 36 breeder farms and nine pullet producers as of last year - will now be subject to registration with the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission.
In effect, the approximately 1,100 poultry houses in Carroll County will be put on record "for the purpose of assembling and maintaining information on the number, composition, and practices of poultry feeding operations in the state."
It will also be the responsibility of local growers to prepare a "nutrient management plan," to sign up to become a certified private applicator of chicken litter, or to hire state-licensed commercial applicators to handle his poultry farm's waste product.
The local conservation district office will be responsible for handling this new crush of paperwork and enforcement. It's essentially a one-man show here, and it seems unlikely to us that one person could possibly implement the new laws and then see to it that they are strictly obeyed.
The poultry industry and farm interests have not shied away from taking some responsibility for the degradation of the region's water supplies. It seems obvious enough, given our karst topography, that if nutrient-rich chicken litter is spread on the same piece of land too many times in too short a time frame, serious runoff and infiltration problems are created. If litter is spread on land too steep or with soil too thin, the stuff might as well be dumped right into our water supply. Nothing in our topography creates the time to slow and cleanse dirty water.
But poultry farmers have asked two questions which have yet to be addressed fairly: "Where's the science?" and "Why just us?"
Yes, Table Rock Lake to our north has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as impaired because of excess nutrients, and the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) at the University of Arkansas has estimated that the Kings River dumps 150,000 pounds of phosphorous into the lake each year.
Does that make it a black and white issue that the poultry industry is to blame? Not likely. Sewage plants, improperly installed or overburdened septic systems, and anyone who misuses a bag of fertilizer all contribute to the problem. To what degree can't be known until more study is done.
Is there enough scientific knowledge to single out the poultry industry? No. The Kings River is finally getting the attention it deserves, thanks to the Kings River Watershed Partnership and the AWRC. Testing sites along the river have been established which will provide valid science for figuring out just how badly the water is polluted. Still, figuring out sources of non-point pollution is problematic.
The Kings is the only Table Rock Lake contributor with no written or implemented watershed management plan. With Missouri threatening a lawsuit over this very issue, which would cause federal intervention, it's prudent to move ahead with getting our water problems under control.
In the end, nutrient management will be everyone's responsibility - from the homeowner with the illegal septic system to the poultry farmer who sneaks his litter out to the back 40.
- GWD
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Fishing the Ozarks
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