An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century - California Ocean ...

Animal Feeding OperationsMany animal feeding operations (for example, for beef cattle, hogs, or poultry) are locatedin coastal areas or in upstream areas that flow into coastal waters; these businesses havebecome major contributors to coastal water pollution. Along the East Coast, many feedingoperations are concentrated in the coastal plain, which is home to an economically importantand ecologically sensitive network of wetlands, rivers, estuaries, and coastline.In the United States, there are approximately 238,000 confined animal feeding operations,which produce an estimated 500 million tons of manure every year—more than 3times the amount of sewage produced by humans. 8 The animal manure generates dischargesof solids and liquid effluent to groundwater and surface waters. Ammonia andother gases also volatilize from manure in storage facilities or on fields, resulting in atmospherictransport and deposition of pollutants. Pollutants originating at animal feedingoperations include nutrients, ammonia, pathogens, hydrogen sulfide, methane, hormones,pesticides, and antibiotics.Although some discharges from animal feeding operations resemble dispersed nonpointsources of pollution, the larger concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) aredefined and regulated as point sources under the NPDES program of the Clean Water Act.EPA issued new effluent guidelines and permitting regulations for CAFOs in December2002. Under these new regulations, all CAFOs (about 18,500 nationwide) will be requiredto obtain NPDES permits from EPA or a state by 2006. These regulations are expected togreatly reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment entering coastal waters. 9,10 States thathave appropriate legal authority may impose requirements in addition to those in the EPACAFO regulations, such as regulating operations that are not large enough to be regulatedunder the EPA regulations, requiring increased monitoring and reporting, and requiringanimal processors to be co-permittees along with their contractors who raise the animals.Recommendation 14–3The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) should support research on the removal of nutrients from animal wastes that maypollute water bodies and on the impact of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants on waterquality. EPA and USDA should also develop improved best management practices that retainnutrients and pathogens from animal waste on agricultural lands. Where necessary to meetwater quality standards, states should issue regulatory controls on concentrated animal feedingoperations in addition to those required by EPA.Improving the Control of Point SourcesTo control point source pollution effectively, the nation will need to maintain a long-termcommitment to investments in infrastructure, improve the enforcement of water pollutionstandards, and promote market-based incentives and other innovative approaches.The Need for Long-term Infrastructure InvestmentsThe gap between existing and needed funding for wastewater and drinking waterimprovements is large, and serious adverse human health and environmental effects arelikely if the challenges presented by an aging public infrastructure are not addressed.Capital spending for public wastewater treatment infrastructure is currently about $13billion per year, and annual operations and maintenance costs are around $17 billion.EPA estimates that, over the next twenty years, the total additional investment needed forwastewater treatment infrastructure could exceed $270 billion, and for drinking waterinfrastructure could reach almost $265 billion. Sewer system overflows will be particularlycostly to correct. 11 These costs for infrastructure improvements are in addition to theC HAPTER 14: ADDRESSING C OASTAL WATER P OLLUTION211