Intentional dumping of Silage Leachate caught on
video
As DEQ officials continue trying to close the Pandora's
box opened by CAFOs and spring runoff in the manure disaster in south central
Michigan, word comes that local citizens have filmed two of the seven tanker
trucks they witnessed dumping silage leachate down a hill into a county drain at
the Vreba Hoff 1 Dairy. Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central
Michigan (ECCSCM) president John Klein and vice president Lynn Henning filmed
the trucks pouring the wastes onto the hillside above the drain.
Downstream in this same drain just two days ago, dissolved oxygen (DO) readings
were tested at 0.7 mg/L, effectively guaranteeing that all aquatic life has been
killed in this waterway.
Silage leachate is waste water from
silage, a livestock feed created by chopping up whole stalks of corn and storing
it in bunkers or silos. Silage leachate is one of the less well known but
environmentally devastating pollutants associated with large scale animal
factories such as dairies. ECCSCM water testers last year caught an illegal
discharge of silage leachate when DO levels dropped to this same outrageously
low level.
A paper by MSU Agriculture Extension staff from 2002 explains
that silage leachate "when discharged into surface water can remove so much
oxygen that fish and other aquatic creatures die immediately", contains
nutrients harmful to groundwater, and is so acidic that it can actually burn or
kill vegetation (see http://www.maeap.org/education_controlling_silage_leachate.pdf ). By testing for both E.coli bacteria and dissolved oxygen, ECCSCM has
discovered illegal discharges of a variety of different kinds in their
community.
Temporary dam holding, but streams and drains
full of manure
The temporary dam holding millons of manure
contaminated water on a field at the Vreba Hoff 2 facility is reportedly still
holding, and water is being pumped out and shipped to a lagoon at Vreba Hoff 1,
however photos today of waterways around the facility show huge amounts of
milky grey brown water that reportedly smells strongly of manure rushing out of
tiles and culverts, through drains and downstream into lakes and streams.
Compared to photos earlier this week, the amount of manure water running into
and through surface waters is much greater now.
One challenge now
for locals is that as the DEQ moves toward enforcement, less and less
information is available to the public about the measures taken, even for those
whose yeoman volunteer efforts have helped identify the sources of the
contamination. No public announcements have been made by the state or feds
about the disaster underway, and so as the nightmare that has become their
community continues to unfold, many remain totally in the dark about enforcement
actions, about even the emergency actions to try to address the pathogen
contaminated waters. Perhaps there is a site, phone numbers, or other
public information source that someone can suggest where local people can find
out about an unfolding disaster like this as it is taking place so that people
know they must avoid contact with the water?
Anne
Woiwode
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Anne
Woiwode, Staff Director, Sierra Club Mackinac Chapter
109 East Grand River
Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906
517-484-2372; fax 517-484-3108
anne.woiwode@sierraclub.org
visit the Mackinac Chapter on the web at
http://michigan.sierraclub.org
Learn the
rules so that you know how to break them properly