Animal Waste Management
2.3.1
In the Tar-Pamlico
main types of animal waste management practices
are cost-shared through the North Carolina
Cost-Share Program.
They
anaerobic lagoons, (2) land application of animal waste, (3) animal
waste ponds, (4) mortality cornposters, and (5) dry stacking of manure. Of these
practices, anaerobic lagoons and land application have received"95 percent of
the cost-share funding.
Pre-Existing Conditions: ,A Baseline for Effectiveness Evaluation
To accurately estimate the effectiveness of funds spent on animal waste
management, it is essential to establish a baseline condition representing the
preexisting waste management practices on a
The effectiveness of the
cost-share expenditures is the difference between the effectiveness of the
baseline and new practices.
In the Tar-Pamlico basin, a majority of the cost-share money spent on animal
waste management has gone to land application (Table 2-l). The North Carolina
SCS office estimates that land application at greater than agronomic rates is the
baseline condition on most
percent) of the farms receiving cost-share
funding for land application (R. Hansard, 1994). However, it
be noted that
there are isolated cases in which the preexisting conditions may be more severe
(e.g., discharge to ditches).
The situation for anaerobic lagoons is similar. Cost-sharing for anaerobic
lagoons is typically done on farms where the existing lagoon is undersized or
does not otherwise meet the SCS technical design specifications (R. Hansard,
1994). When a lagoon is undersized, surface waters are endangered in two
ways. Storm events may exceed the lagoon's holding capacity, causing spillage
of wastes to surface waters. More frequently, the lack of sufficient storage
volume forces the farmer to land apply wastes at greater than agronomic rates.
Therefore, land application at greater than agronomic rates is the typical pre-
existing management condition for operations which receive cost-share funding
for lagoons.
have
the cost-effectiveness of
For the purposes of this
animal waste management practices relative to various levels of overapplication
of wastes. In addition, we have presented cost-effectiveness values relative to
direct discharge. Although direct discharge is believed to be a rare occurrence in
the basin, the values should be useful for comparison purposes.
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