Concerned Citizens for Clean Water ran this ad in New Mexico and West Texas in February 2002:
Concerned Citizens for Clean Water
is a group of individuals and neighbors who have banded together to do what we can to stop the pollution of and exhaustion of our very precious and limited water supply. If we, as a group, don't' take a stand and fight for our life-giving water, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when it is gone. If you really care about the water you and your family drink, PLEASE participate and share this information with your friends and neighbors.The Ogallala Aquifer (also called the High Plains Aquifer), an underground supply, is the major source of water for Eastern New Mexico and much of West Texas. It also supplies water to parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota.
Water level declines of two to three feet and more PER YEAR in many areas make the physical exhaustion (drying up) of the aquifer a very real concern; some irrigators in parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle have already experienced this and are unable to irrigate. Some residents of eastern New Mexico, in the St. Vrain area, are hauling water. The western portion of Curry County, in some areas, has 20 feet of water in the aquifer or less. And, as the water table drops, the water in the aquifer becomes more and more brackish (salty) as the concentration of dissolved minerals and salts increases; if the present trends continue, eventually, it will be undrinkable and then it will DISAPPEAR.
The increasing number of dairies, hog farms, and poultry farms CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations w/over 1000 "animal units") raise very real concerns about groundwater pollution.
Lagoons are used to store animal waste from these dairies and other animal operations. Clay liners can crack after long droughts, allowing untreated waste to seep into the ground and into the groundwater supply. These lagoons also flood during heavy rains. According to the EPA, a single dairy cow produces 120 pounds of wet manure a day. This is equivalent to the waste produced by 20-40 humans per day. Using 30 humans as a multiplier, this means that a 3,000 head dairy will produce the same amount of waste per day as 90,000 humans. Think about it: this is more than TWICE the human population of Curry County, just from ONE 3,000 head dairy!
Sprayfields: Wastewater, urine, and manure are collected from the lagoons and then sprayed onto fields. This releases odors and bacteria into the air and distributes this waste over the fields, where it can dry up and become airborne or be washed off by surface water runoff, polluting neighboring fields planted with commercial crops, as well as home gardens.
Incompletely plugged wells, test holes, and other borings let surface water runoff drain directly into our freshwater supply, the Ogallala Aquifer. If this surface water runoff is contaminated with dairy waste, this waste and its nitrates contaminate our drinking water. High levels of nitrates in drinking water is extremely harmful to children and pregnant women; it can cause "blue baby" syndrome and is linked to miscarriages in pregnant women. Ranchvale Elementary School's nitrate level was so high that its well had to be shut down and an alternative water source (another well) had to be used to provide water.
Playas: New Mexico is dotted with Playas (lakebeds) that accumulate surface water runoff and then funnel it DIRECTLY into the Ogallala Aquifer. If any dairy wastewater contaminates this surface water runoff, it will be funneled into our freshwater supply, pollutants and all.
Water Consumption:According to the USDA, an average dairy cow drinks 25-50 gallons of water per day. This is just the barest beginning; this figure does not take into account the huge amounts of water that will be required daily to clean pens and milking parlors, remove waste, nor does it count the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF WATER that will be used on the sprayfield to distribute dairy waste onto the land. For example, the wastewater permit requested by the Running M Land & Cattle Dairy is for 75,000 gallons of WASTEWATER PER DAY, to be drained into a clay-lined lagoon.
How Serious is Our Water Situation?
EXTREMELY Serious. Water levels are dropping at an alarming rate. On November 12, 2001, President Bush signed a bill that will provide $250,000 to work on the proposed Ute Reservoir Pipeline to deliver water to communities in east-central New Mexico Counties. This is in addition to $1 million in Federal funding previously provided for this project.
