Water and Air Pollution Plan

Water and Air Pollution Plan

According to the peer material provided for review entitled Water and Air Pollution Analysis ' dated September 19 , 2007 , among the main environmental problems of Arkansas is water pollution . The stated that polluted water caused people to be sick , obliging them to a lawsuit against several big poultry farms believed to have caused the problem brought about by chicken waste . This hints at the problem of ground water contamination . The also said that because of the proliferation of chicken farms in the area , chicken waste is being

widely used as fertilizers by farms , resulting to agricultural runoff which pollutes their streams and rivers . Elsewhere in the , the author also claimed that the agricultural runoff which is being conveyed by White River to the Mississippi River leads to algae blooms that take oxygen from the water and kills fish ' This is a case of surface water pollution . The leading environmental issue in Arkansas , therefore is ground water and surface water pollution from agricultural runoff

The chicken waste being used as fertilizer contains harmful elements which seeps through the layers of soil and contaminate the sources of ground water . According to information released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA , chicken waste contains a combination of fungus bacteria , and arsenic . Arsenic is found in chicken waste because organic arsenic compounds are extensively added to poultry feed to enhance growth ' Therefore , if the chicks grow rapidly , the profit of the poultry company is increased . According to the EPA , the most common arsenical poultry feed is Roxarsone [and ] by design , most of the arsenic , which is number one on the EPAs toxic substance list , is excreted in the manure of the chicken (Lundy Davis , 2003 ) In other words , if this organic arsenic manages to seep through the layers of soil , it could easily contaminate the groundwater which is the source of the people 's drinking water

In the face of this hazard , it is paramount that efforts should be exerted by the residents of Arkansas to push for the illegalization of adding organic arsenic to poultry feeds . The people should organize themselves into a lobby group , hire lawyers if necessary to assist them and approach government officials to achieve this objective . A broad united front is needed for this purpose because poultry raisers , a rather strong lobby group itself , would not take things sitting down since removing organic arsenic compound from poultry feeds would inevitably mean reduced profit for the industry

Over-fertilization should also be avoided . The amount of chicken waste being spread over the fields should not be overdone so that the seepage could be contained . Crop specialization should likewise be avoided because specialized crops usually require more fertilizer to achieve a high production level . The tendency to provide more fertilizer to specialized crops therefore could lead to over-fertilization . For the farming community of Arkansas , crop rotation and the planting of cover crops is advisable . Crop rotation is planting different kinds of crops alternately in...