Intensive methods of pastoral farming cause some of the largest impacts on water quality in the world. The EPA National water quality inventory in 2000 identified agricultural practices being the source of 48% of pollution in stream and river water and 41% for lake water.

Source: Planetsave.com

This water degradation and pollution is a huge problem not only in the USA but in all countries that intensively farm livestock. The pollution of water can have seriously detrimental impacts on the aquatic ecosystem as well as human health! 

The most predominant way in which this agricultural practice effects water is through poor management of this waste (Ackerman and Taylor 1995). 

The EPA estimates that a dairy farm with 2,500 cows will produce the same volume of  waste as that of a city with population of 411,000 residents! Furthermore, it is estimated that  220 billion gallons of animal waste is dumped into the environment each year!

So this is a very pungent problem indeed!

I am going to talk about the problem of waste management in my upcoming posts. 

Firstly, looking at the human and mechanical aspect of poor waste handling. Then taking a look at what role the animals themselves play in terms of directly impacting the water system.