Manure, feathers, carcasses, organs, blood, dirt and massive amounts of wastewater – all of that is stored in lagoons and then the liquid waste is sprayed onto nearby fields.
People need RCRA to hold factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses accountable for polluting drinking water.
Unfortunately, a bill making its way through the House of Representatives seeks to bar people whose drinking water wells have been contaminated by factory farms from filing similar citizen suits under RCRA.
Dubbed the ‘Farm Regulatory Certainty Act,” the bill would not prevent the Mountaire suit from moving ahead (as this is a processing plant and not a factory farm), but is still deeply concerning.
First, people whose water has been destroyed by factory farms deserve to use RCRA to fight for clean water.
People living in areas impacted by industrial agriculture have a right to clean water just like everyone else.
Citizens living near Mountaire’s Millsboro plant have had to take this matter into their own hands after being failed by Mountaire, the EPA, and the state of Delaware.
Their ability to pursue clean water and justice depends on their ability to file a citizen suit under RCRA – a right that could very well be denied to other impacted communities if Congress creates yet another loophole for Big Ag.
Millsboro deserves better.
Stand with the citizens of Millsboro, Delaware to demand that Mountaire clean up its mess and restore clean drinking water to its neighbors.

Even as auditors have spotted some major waste issues in Baltimore’s drinking water system, the city has some good news: The Department of Public Works’ latest annual report says the city still has very high-quality drinking water.
Published today, the Annual Water Quality Report includes data for microbiological contaminants, water clarity, arsenic, fluoride, chloride, radioactive contaminants and more at the city’s water filtration plants.
Only two violations were found in the category of trihalomethanes, byproducts from the use of chlorine in the disinfection process, at the Ashburton and Montebello plants.
Federal guidelines peg the maximum contaminant level allowed for trihalomethanes at 80 parts per billion (ppb); Ashburton recorded its highest level at 94 ppb, and Montebello recorded an instance of 83 ppb.
However, the former averaged 48 ppb and the latter 52 ppb, well below the federal maximum.
The report mentions “by-product of drinking water chlorination” as the contamination source for those instances.
Such contaminants aren’t known to make people immediately ill, though research has indicated that over time they can cause cancer.
Otherwise, as with past years, the report characterizes the quality of the city’s drinking water as “excellent.” “We have among the best and safest drinking water in the country,” Kurt Kocher, a spokesman for DPW, wrote in an email.
In a release, DPW Director Rudy Chow touted the extensive testing process used for the water system: “DPW’s team of dedicated professionals work[s] around-the-clock to perform nearly 150,000 water quality analyses each year to ensure that we deliver high-quality water to our customers.” For all of its infrastructural woes, the city has been able to champion its high-quality drinking water in recent years, even getting a nod from one magazine as having the 10th best drinking water in the country.
This story has been updated.

The Latest on drinking water contamination in a Montana county (all times local): 2:40 p.m. A Montana county has agreed to upgrade a small community drinking water system after securing $588,000 in grants.
The proposed agreement between Beaverhead County and the U.S. Department of Justice was filed Wednesday with a lawsuit that accused the Jackson drinking water system of multiple violations.
Federal environmental officials found that the groundwater system exceeded acceptable levels of arsenic and radioactive contaminants, and that the water and sewer district failed to monitor for contamination and file required disclosures.
Under the deal, the county agrees to regularly monitor and report as soon as the deal takes effect.
HELENA, Mont.
(AP) – The U.S. government is seeking a court order to force Beaverhead County to comply with drinking water standards, monitoring and reporting requirements for a small community water system in Jackson.
Beaverhead County attorney Jed Fitch did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A recent study from the National Academy of Sciences found that, since 1982, between 3 percent and 10 percent of the country’s water systems are in violation of the health standards outlined in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
That may not sound like much, but it equates to around 21 million people per year being exposed to unsafe drinking water, or about 6 percent of the U.S population.
The cost of government inaction China has shown the need for government to get involved in minimizing water pollution to protect its populace.
One thing that Texas, Oklahoma and many other rural regions affected by poor water quality have in common is that they are staunch seats of the Republican Party.
However, for the people that work for these corporations, the regulations only offer a positive result of clean, safe drinking water.
But the fact is, in many small towns and rural areas, locals only seem able to see their hatred for the EPA and regulations because Fox News and the Republican Party has been fanning the flames of hate for decades.
In a statement, Howard A. Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said: “EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s rush to delay the Clean Water Rule will allow more pollution, threatening safe, clean drinking water in the Midwest.
We can’t afford to go backwards when it comes to reducing pollution of our community rivers, lakes and streams.” Helping people help themselves The issue of unsafe drinking water is worse in rural communities that don’t have the finances to improve their failing systems, and also because their small populations have little recourse to complain.
Health violations actually skyrocketed in rural areas in the 2000s after the EPA revised its stance on disinfectants, where the standard practice had always been to use chlorine and other disinfectants to remove pathogens from drinking water.
Which begs the question: How bad does the situation, and our people’s health, have to get before we finally decide to act?

Women travel around one kilometre to reach Vaigai river to scoop water from holes on its banks.
The situation remains the same throughout the year, with the occasional respite coming whenever a Reverse Osmosis plant in the village comes alive.
“I need at least five pots to meet the drinking water requirement of my house for two days.
Since we received Vaigai water this year, water is only a shallow dig away.
However, there are fears that a situation would arise, like in the past, and we would have to trek to far-off places to get water once summer bares its fangs,” says Kavitha, who is accompanied by her four-year-old daughter Karnika.
The women would not have to trek or dig holes at ungodly hours if the government gives water connection to the hamlet, says P Chandran, a resident.
“We will replace the substandard motor installed by the local panchayat with a branded one at the reverse osmosis plant within five days.
We will ensure that the panchayat collects only `2 per water pot,” the official said, adding that there was another issue, which was not being highlighted.
“People are reluctant to fetch water from the plant.
People should change their outlook towards the plant,” Chelladurai added.

The U.S. government is asking a judge to force Beaverhead County to comply with state and federal drinking water standards after finding excessive contamination and numerous failures to monitor and report on a small Montana community’s water system over nine years.
The Department of Justice sued Wednesday after finding the county’s water and sewer district committed numerous violations dating to 2009 and then disobeyed multiple Environmental Protection Agency orders to fix them.
Despite those excessive levels, the district failed to monitor for those and other contaminants and failed to make the required disclosures to state regulators and the public, the lawsuit said.
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Beaverhead County attorney Jed Fitch did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
The EPA issued orders in 2009, 2013 and 2014 for the county to fix the problems, but each one was violated, prompting the lawsuit for a court order, Justice Department attorneys wrote.
High levels of arsenic were found in the Jackson drinking water system as far back as 2005, when Montana prepared to adopt new water contamination limits.
The county received a three-year exemption to comply, and only started racking up violations when the exemption expired in 2009.
The EPA lists 16 violations in its lawsuit that include not only excessive arsenic and radionuclides, but the county water district’s failure to monitor for several other contaminants — asbestos, pesticides and coliform bacteria.

Massachusetts Department of Correction officials say the water meets state standards for potability.
But they acknowledge there’s a problem in at least some of the samples collected from the prison’s well: elevated levels of the mineral manganese, which can cause health problems including a Parkinson’s disease-like neurological disorder.
The state Department of Environmental Protection ordered DOC to install the system and has been fining DOC because of delays.
"People in the community shouldn’t have to be put in a position to raise funds to provide water for people incarcerated in our state prison system," says Greg Diatchenko, who served almost 30 years at MCI-Norfolk for murder and was paroled in 2014.
Anywhere, people will tell you that you need clean drinking water to survive."
"The folks inside are human, you know?
And so they deserve the basic human rights that we all have out here, too," adds Christine Mitchell, a Harvard doctoral student in public health and member of Deeper Than Water.
"We know [DOC has] the money and the resources to provide clean water, and they haven’t done it."
Coalition members say their efforts to distribute bottled water hit a snag because a prisoner who was handing out the water, Wayland Coleman, was put in solitary confinement last week for doing so.
The audio for Diatchenko’s and Mitchell’s All Things Considered conversation will be posted later.

Mar 29, Colombo: Nine companies showcased nature-based solutions to address water quality issues at a Trade Fair on Advanced and Appropriate Water Treatment Systems in Colombo recently in commemoration of the World Water Day.
This seven-year project (2017-2024) is aimed at strengthening the resilience of Smallholder Farmers in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events.
To support water purification under this program, a Trade Fair on Advanced and Appropriate Water Treatment Systems to treat water in locations with serious water quality issues was held at the Red Verandah, BMICH in commemoration of World Water Day 2018, where nine companies showcased nature-based solutions, in parallel with alternative approaches, in water treatment technologies and practices.
This was initiated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) supported Climate Resilient Integrated Water Management Project (CRIWMP) together with the World Bank assisted Water Supply & Sanitation Improvement Project.
The above two Projects aim to improve access to potable water by enhancing community-managed rural water supply infrastructure including advanced filtration and treatment systems with appropriate disinfection processes.
According to the UNDP, globally, 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services.
Furthermore, over 80 percent of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the environment without being treated or reused.
Speaking about UNDP’s support, Ms. Lovita Ramguttee, Deputy Country Director, UNDP Sri Lanka stated, "Nature-based solutions have the potential to solve many of our water challenges.
Sumanasekara, General Manager of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board stated, "The rural communities in Sri Lanka need potable water for which new and advanced treatment technologies have to be showcased and promoted.
This trade fair explored the best solutions to address drinking water concerns at a community level in the Dry zone of Sri Lanka.

China Women’s Development Foundation (CWDF) held an inauguration ceremony in a rural elementary school of Xinglong County in north China’s Hebei Province on March 21 to upgrade drinking water facilities for local children.
It is part of the Water Cellar for Mothers and Safe Drinking Water on Campus initiative, which was launched by the CWDF in 2011 and aims to provide rural schools with necessary equipment to purify their drinking water and improve the sanitation standards of local toilets.
According to organizers, the upgraded facilities have shortened the construction period by roughly 50 percent, increased the efficiency of the recycling of water resources, and offered a broader space for interactive exchanges between volunteers and teenage beneficiaries.
Deputy Secretary-General of CWDF Zhang Jianmin said at the launch ceremony that the charity scheme is crucial to constantly improve the physical health of students in primary and middle schools and is a concrete measure to implement the national health strategy.
So far, the program has been accessible in nearly 770 rural schools from 25 provincial regions and covered a total of 400,000 students and teachers.
Zhang pledged that CWDF would make full use of its advantages, rally more social resources and work closely with governments at various levels to ensure safe access to drinking water for rural students and teachers.
On the sidelines of the opening ceremony, volunteers held interactive activities to help local students learn more about health issues around water and raise their awareness of water preservation in daily life.
Those in attendance at the event also included Yang Wenli, deputy mayor of Xinglong County People’s Government; and representatives from two sponsor enterprises.
(Source: China Women’s Development Foundation/Translated and edited by Women of China) Please understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images.
For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: website@womenofchina.cn.

“Recent estimate based on the SDG criteria of safely managed water suggests that about 93 percent of Liberia’s rural residents don’t have access to enough clean water for domestic use.” He says lack of access to water is due to shortage in drinking water facilities, noting, “This is troubling and undesirable statistics by any standard.” According to him, the situation in Liberia is compounded by a number of structural problems both in terms of governance and resources mobilization.
“They normally struggle in comparison to their NGO counterparts, who in most cases, are better equipped and well-resourced to realize their short term WASH mandates at the risk of low sustainability and discontinuity of project activities in the event that donors’ funding expired”, he laments.
Consequently, he says WASH infrastructures’ construction and its attending software activities in Liberia has been the subject of growing attention, describing it as the most fragile part of public goods provided in Liberia.
Minister Chesson continues that low funding to the Liberian WASH sector has generally undermined the aspiration of plans needed to realize the goals of ensuring sanitation and hygiene activities are scaled up beyond fragmented and incoherent implementation.
The Assistant Minister notes that there is low government allocation for Liberia WASH sector, thus leading to donor and NGOS dominance which, he observes sometimes leads to unachievable government planned priorities.
He warns that Global Water crisis will not be solved if Liberians don’t provide the necessary support and continue to work together to ensure that no one is left behind in the drive to enhance access to safe drinking water.
On the global scene, the CDC official disclosed that more than 700 million people (10%) of the global population lack access to safe drinking water, exposing them to the risk of “unpredictable” ineffectual diseases and premature death.
That is why, he adds, it is more than necessary to join others around the global to observe world water day on March 22 each year so as to occupy the consciousness of the world about the water crisis facing people who are left behind.
“663 million people don’t have access to safe managed water source, not to talk of improved infrastructures close to their homes, unlike few, most people around the world must spend complex hours in Queue, waiting to get what he terms as the precious resource (water).
-Editing by Jonathan Browne