In a factory farm, the animals live on a perforated floor over a concrete slab. Especially for the wellbeing of pigs during hot weather, the buildings and pigs are watered down to bring down body temperature, and also to gather the urine and manure. The whole mix flows in a containment pit and is then pumped into the concrete pit outside.

[Photo: One of the two liquid manure pits built in Richelieu for the pig CAFO]

In my town, so that the manure pits don't fill up too quickly, a roof was built above the concrete construction. Public relations propaganda says that it is so that the smell doesn't waft out. The reason the farmer doesn't want the pit to fill up too quickly is that the only way to empty it is to spread the content on his land: something to be done as infrequently and as quickly as possible in order to keep public outcry to a minimum. So the pits come in big sizes. One manure pit in my town can hold 4 million liters (or more than 1 million gallons) of what some call slurry. 

I must mention here that the soil in the Richelieu Valley is mostly clay. Agronomists that have analyzed the soil of the plots where the pig manure coming from our factory farm will be spread have confirmed that the soil is clay. Now, as you may know, clay has the habit of contracting and expanding when drying out or absorbing water. It also contracts and expands when freezing up and thawing. Any home owner with a concrete basement in my province will admit to having cracks in their basement walls and floor. I hate to think of what will happen when those two pits full of slurry will start to crack and leak.

The content of the pits are to be spread on the agricultural land surrounding the pig farm. This would not be too bad if these plots of land had holding ponds for their run-off, or if some kind of green belt around them to filter soil particles and attached pollutants. But since farmers are looking for maximum harvest on maximum surface, the plow often strays into ditches and streams, as below photo can attest.

[Photo: plow went down in the ditch between cedar hedge of Richelieu blue collar worker property on the right and agricultural land on the left.]

Having lived all my life by the river, as time goes by I see that the color of the water in the river quickly changes color after any decent rainfall, and it's getting worse. I don't recall noticing this 40 years ago. Many miles downriver from the pig farm, I have taken water samples in the Richelieu River to have an idea of the coliform count. I have counted up to 740 MPN (Most Probable Number) of colony forming units (cfu) per 100 ml sample. As a rule, fecal coliform levels have an acceptable for recreational swimming level of 200 MPN/100mL.

[Photo: One result of my water sampling of the Richelieu River in front of my home.]

I have stopped swimming in the river, because I know it is badly polluted, but others do, oblivious to the risks. There is no beach in front of my home, but the area is easily accessible and there is a municipal park nearby, so a lot of people come here to fish and swim. I have called Public Health: they say people swimming in natural watercourses do so at their own risk. I have called the Ministry of the Environment: they say they don't have enough resources to test and issue warnings at all the swimming holes in our province.

[Photo: People fish and swim where I took my water samples.]

In my previous posts: "The Small Town and the Factory Farm" was about how industrial farming imposes itself upon a community and is source of social and environmental concern. "The Factory Farm and Air Pollution" was about how neighbors have good reasons to complain about the smell of intensive breeding stock barns.