Ongoing Factory Farm Waste Problems

Giant livestock farms housing hundreds of thousands of pigs, chickens, or cows, produce vast amounts of waste. And the factory farm waste from these farms continues to threaten the health and drinking water of surrounding areas and the future of our nation's rivers, lakes, and streams. More and more, local communities and environmental groups are looking to the courts to remedy environmental violations, such as Seeger Weiss’ recent verdict.

Pollution from Factory Farms


Owned or controlled by multimillion dollar corporations, livestock and pig factory farming is plagued with factory farming pollution problems. Thanks to research conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council more is known about factory farm waste dangers from the use of the lagoon and sprayfield system. Here’s an excerpt of some of their findings on factory farming pollution:
  • Hundreds of gases, including ammonia (a toxic form of nitrogen), hydrogen sulfide, and methane can be emitted by lagoons and the irrigation pivots associated with sprayfields.
  • Gases formed in the breaking down of animal waste can be toxic, oxygen consuming—and has even caused deaths to factory farming pollution workers.
  • People living close to pig factory farming have reported headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, respiratory problems, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, burning eyes, depression, and fatigue.
  • Nitrates can seep from lagoons and sprayfields and contaminate groundwater used for human drinking water. Nitrate levels above 10 mg/l in drinking water increase the risk of methemoglominemia, or blue baby syndrome, which can cause deaths in infants, and contamination from factory farm waste has also been linked to spontaneous abortions.
  • Huge quantities of antibiotics are fed to livestock and can contribute to the rise of bacteria resistant to antibiotics generating a complex problem for humans.
  • Lagoons filled with factory farm waste can spill and burst, dumping thousands and often millions of gallons of waste into rivers, lakes, streams, and estuaries.
  • Because multiple large-scale feedlots cluster around slaughterhouses, sprayfield runoff can affect local watersheds as far as 300 hundred miles away.

Alternative Approaches Are Rarely Used by Pig Factory Farms


A wide range of alternatives to the lagoon and sprayfield system currently exist, but livestock factory farms continue to use this polluting method. Alternative approaches include sustainable agriculture practices that prevent pollution, such as management intensive rotational grazing, hoop houses, and composting. Alternative technologies that treat the wastewater, including anaerobic digestion, wetlands treatment, and sequencing batch reactors also mitigate some of the risks to surface water, groundwater, air, and public health.

Seeger Weiss is proud to be one of the law firms that have aggressively taken action against factory farm waste practices that threaten surrounding neighbors’ rights to clean air and water. If you’re a victim as well, contact us.

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