Don’t Let Containment Ponds Overflow

 

With high water tables going into last fall and high water content in the snowpack this winter, spring thaw likely will cause issues for North Dakota livestock owners who have dirty-water containment ponds and manure stacking areas.

 

As the spring thaw continues, inspecting the dirty-water containment ponds daily is going to be important.

 

“Producers must maintain 2 feet of freeboard to accommodate a 24-hour, 25-year storm event in their ponds,” advises Mary Keena, Extension livestock environmental management specialist based at North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center. “If a pond is level with or measuring in the freeboard area, producers must pump the pond.”

 

Rachel Strommen, environmental scientist at the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, says, “If your manure management dirty-water containment pond looks like it is going to overtop, is showing signs of major bank erosion or is being encroached upon by floodwaters, calling the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, and reporting these issues before they happen is the best plan of action.”

 

She says producers who must pump their ponds back to 2 feet of freeboard should apply the containment water to cropland or pastureland as soon as the ground thaws.

 

“While the nutrient content of the containment water is minimal, it is important to have it sampled and record the number of gallons applied so your nutrient management plan can be updated to include the pumping,” Keena says.

 

If a containment pond has an unpermitted release, producers must call the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) at 701-328-5210 to report the incident. Producers will be required to keep records of all weather events that caused the release, the date of the release, the time of the release, the location of the release, the volume of manure or runoff released, and the actions taken to clean up and minimize the release.

 

Another thing to monitor is manure stacking areas. If the area where producers are stockpiling manure, whether that’s the edge of the field or a designated stacking area, may be prone to overland flooding because of this year’s weather events, the producers should inspect it, Keena says.

 

Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are highly susceptible to dissolving in water or moving with the soil, causing pollution in runoff waters. If a manure stacking area becomes inundated with water and runoff, producers likely will need to build a berm around the area to prevent nutrient-dense runoff issues.

Video: Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.