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Impacts to a Coastal River and Estuary from Rupture of a Large Swine Waste Holding Lagoon
Author(s) -
Burkholder JoAnn M.,
Mallin Michael A.,
Glasgow Howard B.,
Larsen L. Michael,
McIver Matthew R.,
Shank G. Christopher,
DeamerMelia Nora,
Briley David S.,
Springer Jeffrey,
Touchette Brant W.,
Han Elle K.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1997.00472425002600060003x
Subject(s) - plume , estuary , fecal coliform , dinoflagellate , algae , fish kill , nutrient , phytoplankton , environmental science , water column , environmental chemistry , eutrophication , anoxic waters , water quality , zoology , biology , algal bloom , fishery , ecology , chemistry , physics , thermodynamics
We tracked a swine waste spill (4.13 × 10 7 L) into a small receiving river and estuary. After 2 d, a 29‐km freshwater segment that the wastes had traversed was anoxic, with ca. 4000 dead fish floating and hung in shoreline vegetation. Suspended solids, nutrients, and fecal coliforms were 10‐ to 100‐fold higher at the plume's edge (71.7 mg SS/L, 39.6 mg NH + 4 ‐N/L, and >1 × 10 6 cfu/100 mL, respectively; cfu, colony forming units, SS; suspended solids) than in unaffected reference sites. Elevated nutrients and an oxygen sag from the plume reached the main estuary after ca. 5 d. Increased phytoplankton production was contributed by noxious algae, Synechococcus aeruginosa and Phaeocystis globosa (10 8 and 10 6 cells/mL, respectively) after 7 to 14 d. The toxic dinoflagellates, Pfiesteria piscicida and a second Pfiesteria ‐like species, increased to potentially lethal densities (10 3 cells/mL) that coincided with a fish kill and ulcerative epizootic. After 14 d, water‐column fecal coliforms generally were at 10 2 to 10 3 cfu/100 mL. But where the plume had hovered for the first 5 d, surface sediments mostly yielded ≥10 4 cfu/100 mL slurry, and after 61 d densities in surficial sediments were still at 10 3 to 10 4 cfu/100 mL. Dinoflagellate and euglenoid blooms developed and moved downestuary, where they were detected after 61 d. This study documented acute impacts to surfacewaters from a concentrated swine operation, and examined some environmental policies affecting the intensive animal operation industry.