When more nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizer, wastewater or solid wastes have been applied to land than can be absorbed by plants, excess nutrients are carried into local creeks, streams and lakes where they can cause toxic algae blooms and diminish water quality. Eventually, those nutrients travel down the Mississippi River and are joined by more nutrient pollution from large agricultural operations, industries, and urban runoff from the watershed that covers 40 percent of the continental U.S. It all adds up to create a huge dead zone covering a couple million acres of water in the Gulf of Mexico in the warm months.
Dane Schumacher, water quality advocate, former board member of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance and organic grower, said he has concerns about three pending permits for land application of industrial waste in areas of Northwest Arkansas that are designed as Nutrient Surplus Areas. NSA means the land is already too saturated with nutrients to absorb any more.
Chicken litter, waste from houses used to grow chickens that includes manure, spilled feed, feathers and bedding materials, is commonly spread on farmland. But there are regulatory restrictions on how much can be applied. “An important and critical point is that industrial waste applicators are not subject to the same, significant NSA restrictions as poultry litter applicators and, as such, they undermine important efforts to address the nutrient problem,” Schumacher said.
Legacy phosphorus, phosphorus left over in the soil is not taken up by plants, is a serious concern for water quality. Animal waste expert and lead soil scientist for Oklahoma, Mike Smolen, testified in lawsuits Oklahoma brought against Arkansas regarding pollution in the Illinois River. He said the Arkansas Phosphorus Index (API) is a good tool for promoting good management of animal waste application fields, as it gives incentive for controlling erosion and installing best management practices. But it also provides a means for producers to continue applying manure and wastewater to fields that have too much phosphorus already.
“Another concern is that the API considers only transport through surface runoff,” Smolen said. “It gives no weight to subsurface transport of phosphorus through buried gravel deposits, frequently found in Ozark flood plains or solution channels in the karst limestone of the area. There is no consideration of the ammonia released to the atmosphere when wastes are applied by a traveling gun.”
There are currently several pending applications for land application of industrial waste in Northwest Arkansas. Permit 5380-W is an application by Denali Water Solutions to spread waste near Mayfield in the Beaver watershed. A public hearing is set for August 31 at the Springdale Senior and Wellness Center at 203 Park Street. Schumacher said the fields proposed for land waste disposal are on Brush Creek, which is impaired, and drains into an impaired segment of Beaver Lake.
Another permit application, 5408-W by Denali Water Solutions, is proposed to be located in rural Carroll County. The Waste Management Plan (WMP) indicates waste will come from local plants, which Schumacher assumes is Tyson Food plants in Berryville and Green Forest.
“Obviously, as a resident of Carroll County I have a keen interest in this permit,” Schumacher, who previously worked as a senior paralegal for corporate defense firms in the District of Columbia and New York City, said. “I have requested a public hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. 5408-W, if approved ‘as is,’ will likely set a precedent for future applications in close proximity of Tyson plant facilities which are in and around Carroll County, a nutrient surplus area.”
In that regard, the permit is troubling to him for two reasons:
1) The WMP relies on the Arkansas Phosphorus Index, designed to favor over-application of phosphorus on fields already having too much phosphorus, which raises the issue of phosphorus legacy in a nutrient surplus area.
2) The WMP fails to identify real-time, site-specific wastewater residual analysis data prior to hauler pickup and immediate field application.
Schumacher said it is important to note that the fields, totaling 925 acres, are listed in the WMP for 5408-W and are in southwest and northeast Carroll County, which is in the Beaver Reservoir Watershed. One of Schumacher’s biggest concerns is that some of the fields, 439 acres, are located near a stream that flows into the Kings River—a popular recreational area for swimming, kayaking and fishing.
On its website, Denali states that, “Denali is an innovative waste disposal and recycling company that is committed to repurposing waste to create value and make our economy more circular. We have been at the forefront of diverting and converting organic waste streams for more than 25 years and have grown from a single rural Arkansas location to become a near-total solution provider for recurring organic waste streams. Our leadership team is made up of some of the most experienced professionals in the industry, and we have an impeccable safety and environmental track record.”
Don’t let this happen!!