C-Forum

They had an interesting segment on "60 minutes" the other night, apparently a repeat from a few years ago, about how North Carolina had become Hog Heaven and that the big corporate farms that raised pigs were dumping a lot of the waste into rivers. I was just curious if this had affected any white water runs or if it was just the big slow-moving flat rivers that were dumped into?
Thanks in advance
Ric Taylor

I haven't noticed that any NC runs have been any worse than normal... might be moreso in the east, but WNC seems pretty clean still
Tim

Ric -

I think those were rivers on or near the coastal plain, maybe in the southern part of the state? I remember the Neuse and the Lumber(?) - not whitewater runs. Or maybe I have that confused with the pfisteria scare...

They want to do the industrial scale hog farming in SC, too - not a fight I'm looking forward to...

Scott

sounds like the rivers in vermont, to an extent. you would think rivers up there would be really clean, and some of them are. but the long rivers that go near fields tend to soak up the run-off -- which is all farmers' chemicals apparently. my local run is so bad ive gotten a raging sore throat twice after swollowing too much. so far i haven't even had that problem on the freakin potomac!
alden

They mentioned the Neuse as well. It's good to know that the Whitewater is safe; or at least safe from that!
Thanks
RT

Hi, I grew up in North Carolina. For the last year I have been living in Columbia SC. These industrial hog farms are primarily located down east in the coastal plain. So the whitewater is unaffected. There are a whole host of issues associated with the presence of these farms. First, for the most part, they are located in the rural and truthfully economically represessed areas. The reason is not to bring jobs to the area but more along the lines of "I don't want that thing in my back yard". Another issue is the waste problem itself. The hogs are raised on concrete and water is used to wash the waste into a holding pond where this slurry is dried and disposed of. The problem is that down east it is so flat that you can not build really deep ponds and so it is easy for them to overflow, especially with your average tropical depression. The result is nutrient overload in your local streams, rivers, and sounds. Nutrient overload brings on bacterial, algal, and the pfisteria outbreaks that were already mentioned.

So no roll practice down stream from the hog farm. And protect those marshes (they sequester tons of those nutrients from the water) otherwise surfing the waves at Hatteras (down on the coast) could become an itchy affair.

Josh
Western NC boy who loves all of his state.