Earlier this month, the Berks County Conservation District approved a nutrient management plan for a 160 acre chicken farm in Upper Bern Township. Pennsylvania regulations require concentrated animal operations to prepare a nutrient management plan to help the farmers develop protocols for managing manure another other potential surface water pollutants using various best management practices.
Generally, farms are not subject to the stringent water quality standards applicable to other commercial and industrial operations. This is largely because of the technical complexities associated with measuring chemical discharge concentrates from "non-point sources" like sheet runoff across large swaths of land.
However, research has shown that erosion, sedimentation and manure washouts from farms, particularly those that are industrial in nature, have a significant impact on water quality. In fact, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia entered into the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement which included broad based goals for reducing nutrient loading from agricultural operations.
Interestingly, the primary "pollution" coming from agricultural operations are not necessarily harmful chemicals, but rather essential plant nutrients like potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen from manure and fertilizer run-off. Essentially, the additional potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen create a nutrient rich environment which causes supercharged algae growth in the waterways. Under normal conditions, algae are essential components in the Chesapeake's ecosystem. However, when the algae growth is supercharged by nutrient runoff, the algae absorb most of the dissolved oxygen necessary for other living organisms to survive. These algae blooms create a "dead zone" in the water body which cannot support plant or fish life because of the depleted oxygen levels.
Nutrient management plans help farmers identify specific actions that they will undertake to reduce the level of potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen (and other pollutants) that enter surface waters as a result of their operations.
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