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Ag Pollution Solutions cultural ad\'isory panel and hold public . hf!arings on C(Inverting feedlot water pollution cuntrol guidelines to formal reg- ulations with enforcement authDrity. By DICK PROl'TY Den\"cr Post En\"iroomenl Editor The Colorado Waler Pollution Control Commission has taken a "first step" In dealing with pollution from agriculture operations, which account for 90 per cent of the state's water use. First Step The "{jrst step" is to do something about the load of liquid and solid wastes al Colorado's 839 beef cattle fPedlots, lamb feeding o~rations and the poultry. hog and dairy producers---enterprises that cumprise a $1 billion, plus, annual in- dustry in the state. Wastes from the feedlot operations, which are increasing, have bfoen affecting surface and underground water supplies to an extent not fully known dC9pite large- ly voluntary conlrol efforts by some feed. erll. The commission will reactivate an agrl- ~ More Specific Regulations would give the commission a more specific legal basis for correcting feedlot operation, which are polluting the state's water. 1bose with no room for de- tention ponds or other control measures would be forced to close, one commission member acknowledged. The situation offers widespread impacts. Farmers use the wast.e! to fertilize their fields, but some fields have become so full of the organic matter that unless irriga- lion water is carefullY handled, the field itself becomes a water pollution source as the wastes are washed off it. I That the volume of wastes Is no small matter is illustrated by a study by Dr. , Ralph Hansen, Colorado State University - to Be Big Challenge authority on animal waste problems. He reports that a UlOO.pound cow in a feedlot produces 6-1 pounds of waste daily. Common Program Of this, 2.1 pounds are dry minerals; 8.2 pounds are dry organic matter and about 53 pounds are water. On a common 14o.day faUenlng program, the one animal would provide a total of 8.960 pounds of waste, of which 7.518 pounds are water. The figures are iIlustralive only, since most cattle go on feed welghinn about 600 pounds and move lO slaughter at 1,000 or a little more. Dairy cattle, Dr. Hansen found, produce 88 pounds of wastes daily. Airborne Source Although feedlot maintenance has Un- proved significantly in the past decade, it has been shown that ammonia evaporat- mg from urine-soaked feedlots has become an airborne source of water poilu. tion. U.S. Agriculture Department studies in northern Colorado, the state', major cat- tle feeding area, have revealed that ponds and reservoirs downwind from feedlots. are absorbing the ammonia--a nutrient- out of the air. The enriched water then more r{'adlly supports excessive plant growth Icutrophicalionl. The main problem is day.to-day drain- age. And that is COOlpounded by hea~T snows and rains. State guidelines now proVide suggf'Stjons for drainage and sealed retention and evaporation ponds to prevent 5ef'page into Underground water supplies. Arizona Studies Studies in Ari1.ona have shown that wast{'s percolating down through soil c1t>anse themselves naturally. However, volumes of application and soil character- istics are major factors in thai process. So is southern Arizona'1l; mild winte climate. Dr. l\'onnan Evan!!, commission vice chairman and director of natural re- Continued on page 35. 26' &;>