scholarly journals Surface-water quality in agricultural watersheds of the North Carolina Coastal Plain associated with concentrated animal feeding operations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Harden
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Agricultural Watersheds ◽  
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations ◽  
Animal Feeding Operations ◽  
The North ◽  
Animal Feeding

Effectiveness of riparian buffers in controlling ground-water discharge of nitrate to streams in selected hydrogeologic settings of the North Carolina Coastal Plain

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.B. Spruill
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Ground Water ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Riparian Buffers ◽  
Flow Paths ◽  
The North

Water-quality and hydrologic information were collected along ground-water flow paths from two well-drained and two poorly drained Coastal Plain settings in North Carolina to evaluate the relative effectiveness of riparian buffers in reducing discharge of nitrate to streams. At one well-drained site with a 100 m buffer, little or no effect was detected on surface-water quality by discharging ground water because extensive woody vegetation in the buffer was able to take up not only most nitrate, but also most ground water before discharging to the stream during the growing season (March-October). At the second well-drained site, ground water discharging to the stream from the side with a buffer contained about 2 mg/L of nitrate-nitrogen after passing through the bed of the stream compared to 6 mg/L in ground water discharging from the side with no buffer. In the poorly drained settings, nitrate in ground water decreased from about 6 mg/L in the recharge area to less than 0.02 mg/L downgradient from the riparian buffer. Ground water discharging from the side with no buffer contained 0.83 mg/L. Riparian buffers appear effective in reducing nitrate in ground water discharging to Coastal Plain streams.

scholarly journals Mathematical modeling of algal blooms due to swine CAFOs in Eastern North Carolina

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Amy Henderson ◽  
Emek Kose ◽  
Allison Lewis ◽  
Ellen R. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Animal Feeding Operations ◽  
Risk Of Rupture ◽  
Eastern North Carolina

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Dramatic strides have been made in treating human waste to remove pathogens and excess nutrients before discharge into the environment, to the benefit of ground and surface water quality. Yet these advances have been undermined by the dramatic growth of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) which produce voluminous quantities of untreated waste. Industrial swine routinely produce waste streams similar to that of a municipality, yet these wastes are held in open-pit "lagoons" which are at risk of rupture or overflow. Eastern North Carolina is a coastal plain with productive estuaries which are imperiled by more than 2000 permitted swine facilities housing over 9 million hogs; the associated 3,500 permitted manure lagoons pose a risk to sensitive estuarine ecosystems, as breaches or overflows send large plumes of nutrient and pathogen-rich waste into surface waters. Understanding the relationship between nutrient pulses and surface water quality in coastal environments is essential to effective CAFO policy formation. In this work, we develop a system of ODEs to model algae growth in a coastal estuary due to a manure lagoon breach and investigate nutrient thresholds above which algal blooms are unresolvable.</p>

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