E. coli thriving near big dairy lot In Michigan
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
By Rod Smith
Special to the Gazette

PAW PAW -- The tests were supposed to allay their fears, but the
results left environmentalists and local officials calling for action.
Almost every sample of water from lakes and streams near the
3,600-animal Hartford/Red Arrow Dairy came back teeming with E. coli
bacteria, the kind found in animal feces.
The tests were part of a study that was supposed to show how well
streams and rivers are protected by state oversight of controversial
factory farms, as opponents of confined-animal feeding operations call
them, such as the Hartford/Red Arrow Dairy, on County Road 362 between
67th Street and 64th Street.

When Hartford Township officials learned the results last month, they
asked the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners for help to assure
that streams near the farm are not being polluted by manure from the
5,000-acre dairy facility.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality cautioned against
jumping to any conclusions based on the preliminary samples.
The DEQ did additional tests to help pinpoint the source of the E.
coli; the agency's final report, expected out later this month, will
identify the problems and recommend what to do next, said Robert
McCann, spokesman for the DEQ.
The initial samples simply didn't show whether the dairy is the source
of the E. coli, he said.
One confusing result: samples upstream of the dairy also showed the
high E. coli counts. Another oddity is what was not found in the
samples. Nitrates and other polluting components that are typically
present in manure runoff weren't elevated in the samples.
``When we saw these results, we were surprised and a little puzzled,''
McCann said.
The study of streams did not test groundwater or residential wells,
but no such contamination problems have been discovered in Hartford
Township, Mick McGuire, supervising sanitarian and water-supply
specialist for the Van Buren County health department, said last week.

Large-farm supporters say technological advances allow nutrients to be
reclaimed from animal wastes and used as fertilizer. The animals at
the Hartford farm produce as much as 4.3 million gallons of liquid
animal waste annually, state officials said. Some of the waste is
composted, but much of it is spread on fields to fertilize crops.
Opponents of the high-density operations claim they are an invitation
to environmental disaster and challenge the DEQ's permitting process.
The DEQ lacks the authority to ban concentrated farm operations, but
it does require that they follow state and federal laws designed to
protect the environment and human health.