Chicago Environmental Center Steps into CAFO Debate
Posted
Daniel Riordan-driordan@timesuniononline.com
An out-of-state agency has listed rivers and lakes in Kosciusko County as some of the “most neglected” bodies of water in Indiana, though a spokesman for the agency admits using anecdotal evidence.
The Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center is behind the website www.inourwater.org
The website has different stories on areas of concern with one that is titled “Factory Farms Threaten Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams.”
“We were looking at kind of the people's stories,” said Peter Gray of the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “We found the key issues affecting Indiana.”
Using the story of Marjorie Vance, a Claypool resident who has brought her concerns with CAFOs to public boards, the story uses anecdotal and non-scientific information to state that Kosciusko County is at risk.
“CAFOs are the major reason. Kosciusko County has 77 hog, poultry and dairy CAFOs, more than all but five of the state’s 92 counties,” states the article.
The article does not mention that Kosciusko County is the fourth largest county landwise.
Also, the four counties with more CAFOs aren’t listed on the website.
Gray said a lot of lakes and streams in Kosciusko County are impaired.
“We talked to a couple of folks in the area,” said Gray, who said his group did look at some hard and quantitative data.
His group, however, didn’t talk to Kosciusko Lakes and Streams, which is charged with protecting and improving the water quality of lakes and streams in the county.
Dr. Nate Bosch is the director of Kosciusko Lakes and Streams as well as assistant professor of environmental science at Grace College.
“All of this points to the continued need for research to identify nutrient sources and quantities in Kosciusko County lakes and streams,” said Bosch.
He also took some issue with the conclusions reached by the website.
“It’s worth clarifying that a subset of our recent lake study data was noted as being evidence of the impairment of our lakes. Yet the data reported were the results for just a single parameter at one timepoint in our study,” said Bosch. “In addition, these results showed microcystin levels below established risk guidelines. In Indiana, IDEM uses 6 parts per billion (ppb) of microcystin toxin as a warning. All microcystin levels were below 6 ppb in our cited data.”
The Indianapolis Star had an article on the study and website earlier this week.
One concern listed is that of blue-green algae.
The algae was found in Hill and Diamond lakes in the southern part of Kosciusko County earlier this summer.
While manure is a concern in its role of blue-green algae, it is also not the lone contributing factor to it.
Earlier this summer, KLAS released some tips to cut down on algae growth. They include: – Maintain native vegetation along shorelines as buffer areas. – Minimize activities that result in erosion. – Reduce the amount of fertilizer used on lawns. – Use only phosphorus-free fertilizer when possible. – Fix leaking septic systems. – Use only phosphorus-free detergents in dishwashing machines.
