This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none. This little piggy went…

Wee-wee, all the way down the stream! 

Last week, the environmental organization American Rivers listed the Neuse and Cape Fear Rivers on its annual “America’s Most Endangered Rivers” list at the seventh spot.

The issue with the current system is that many of our state’s hog farms are located on floodplains and with hogs come a whole lot of fecal matter. When excessive rainfall occurs, the fecal matter that is housed in lagoon-type ponds overflow, spilling into surface water supplies.

American Rivers suggested that our state legislature allot enough money for the farms to move off floodplains with support from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

My problem with this report is that American Rivers suggests a temporary fix to an ongoing problem. The solution is not moving hog farms into a different area, thereby killing the livelihood of the community around it, but stopping the use of lagoons for hog waste altogether. 

Luckily, North Carolina is home to NC State, which, along with other research institutes, is making strides in developing environmentally superior technologies to lagoons for hog waste treatment. Our university plays a critical role in soil and water conservation, and agriculture in our state through its largest outreach program: Cooperative Extension. 

We know what American Rivers doesn’t know: Cooperative Extension is an extensive network of county governments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and land-grant universities across the nation. It has the influence to inform farmers and corporations with research from NC State faculty. This means that our university has the power and influence to keep our rivers off the endangered list, not by moving the problem, but resolving it.

There’s no reason not to when roughly two out of every five North Carolinians obtain their water from these river basins, including Raleigh.

In 2000, Smithfield Foods and Premium Standard Farms formed the Smithfield Agreement with the attorney general of North Carolina to fund environmentally superior technologies (ESTs) for hog waste management; the task was charged to North Carolina State University.

In 2006, NC State received a $75,000 grant to spur development, but before this, the Smithfield Agreement was concluded because none of the ESTs evaluated were considered economically feasible for existing farms. Some were considered to be feasible for new farms.

Progress in this has been slow due to financial burdens for farmers, and the fact that lagoons are an easy and relatively cheap way to dispose of hog waste. Still, moving the farms away from floodplains is like putting a Band-Aid on an infected leg that needs an amputation.

Mike Williams, director of the Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center at NC State, found in his research that surface water impact is not the only concern for lagoon waste treatment. His research supports concerns of lagoon leakage into groundwater supplies and aerial emissions of compounds such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter.

Although Williams’ research acknowledges the financial obstacles for implementing ESTs on existing farms, his outlook is optimistic. “The comprehensive findings provided herein also show that organized efforts to reduce the costs of technologies to mitigate environmental impacts of swine production are achievable,” wrote Williams in his published report “Technologies to mitigate environmental impact of swine production” in 2008.

NC State must use its widespread influence in agricultural practices to change the current hog waste management practices. While this issue was brought to the forefront by American Rivers, this is not the first time it has been a problem. In 1999 Hurricane Floyd caused waste ponds to rupture and flood, contaminating local water supplies.

National Geographic published an article in 2014 about the “Neuse River Air Force,” volunteer observers and pilots who photograph illegal practices by hog farms. Although there are regulations in place, such as not allowing hog farmers to spray waste on fields with standing water or not spraying on days when it is rainy or windy, enforcement has always been an issue.

With the uncertainty surrounding lagoons (plus a pretty terrible odor) it is in the best long-term interest of the state to seek alternative options — options that are both environmentally superior and economically feasible. NC State, it sounds like a job for you.