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| Sustainable farming protects water quality |
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| PURE FARMS PURE WATER CAMPAIGN
Since 1999, Waterkeeper Alliance has fought the environmental and social devastation caused by large factory farms.
By cramming thousands of animals into warehouse style buildings, these facilities produce mountains of waste that end up in our nation’s waterways. In many rural communities livestock produce more waste than humans. And while human waste is treated and cleansed before its release into the environment, manure is often dumped raw onto fields that are out-of-use, frozen or saturated.
Instead of fertilizing real farm land, much of the animal waste produced in this country washes into local creeks, streams and rivers causing algae blooms, fish kills, and polluting our drinking water.
Waterkeeper Advocacy:
Waterkeeper Alliance helps protect rural watersheds by working to prevent the spread of factory-style agriculture and promoting the security of family-owned, sustainable farms. The Pure Farms-Pure Waters campaign combnes hard-nosed litigation with education and outreach on sustainable agriculture. We are working with farmers, environmentalists and political leaders to support real alternatives to factory raised food.
Read more about the Pure Farms Pure Water Campaign here.
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| Industrial Factory CAFO's destroy communities |
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CHESAPEAKE POULTRY INITIATIVE
3/2/2010: Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court of Maryland, against Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm – a Perdue-contract chicken factory farm in Berlin, MD – and Perdue Farms, Inc., for illegal discharges of harmful pollution into the Franklin Branch of the Pocomoke River, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay.
1/12/2010: Today, amid continuing concerns regarding the State's inspection of Perdue's Hudson Farm facility, the Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance announce they have filed a Public Information Act (PIA) request with the Maryland Department of the Environment compelling MDE to produce all documents related to the Hudson CAFO in Berlin, MD.
READ THE PRESS 1/12/10 PRESS RELEASE READ THE PIA PHOTOS HERE
12/17/2009 : Today the Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance mailed a Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue Perdue Farms, Inc. and Hudson Farms (an 80,000 bird poultry CAFO operation located outside of Berlin) for violations of the CWA and polluting the Pocomoke River.
This legal action against Hudson Farms and Perdue is the culmination of several years of intense scrutiny of the Maryland CAFO industry for its contribution to the ongoing decline in health of the state’s local waters.
The results of recent water sampling from ditches that ran past an extensive, uncovered manure pile on the property show high levels of many toxic pollutants, including fecal coliform, phosphorus and nitrogen. In addition, photographic evidence taken from both the ground and the air over the past few months clearly shows the runoff from the manure pile to the surrounding ditch drainage areas. The facility discharges pollution into the Franklin Branch of the Pocomoke River, which then empties into Chesapeake Bay.
READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE VIEW THE PHOTO GALLERY
WATERKEEPERS CHESAPEAKE Challenge MDA to make Nutrient Managment Plans accessible to the public -
WATERKEEPER Alliance, Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER and Assateague COASTKEEPER Challenge MD CAFO Permit - 2009
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