Tuesday, December 4, 2007 : 1:00 p.m.

Impact of Long-Term Poultry Litter Land Application on Ground Water Quality at Several Sites in Wilkes County, North Carolina

Shuying Wang, The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resource and Don Geddes, Applied Water Mangement Inc.

Identifying the environmental impact associated with land application of poultry litter in North Carolina is an area where more research is needed. Policy makers need scientific data to aid in the evaluation of permit program needs and to address public concerns. To that end, the Division of Water Quality, Aquifer Protection Section – Groundwater Resource Evaluation Program in cooperation with USDA-NRCS has investigated the impact of long-term land application of poultry litter on groundwater quality at three selected sites in Wilkes County, North Carolina. The results of the investigation suggest that the quality of the ground water may have been impacted by the long-term land application of poultry litter. Nitrate and nitrite (N), phosphorus (P), and fecal coliform (FC) were detected in most wells sampled; N and/or FC was detected in 7 out of 8 monitoring wells at levels exceeding state groundwater quality standards at least once during the one year monitoring period. Elevated levels of N or FC were also detected in two supply/irrigation wells at the poultry houses. The long-term land application of poultry litter has also resulted in accumulations of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in soil within the top two feet of the soil profiles, but significant accumulation was found at only one site. No significant accumulation of arsenic was found in the soils. The concentration of P in the top/shallow soil was detected above the North Carolina Department of Agriculture Agronomic Division’s soil test P index (P-I) level of 100. When P-I is greater than 100, plants will not respond to additional P. This may result in the unabsorbed P moving with soil to nearby surface waters by stormwater runoff and erosion. Concentrations of N, P, and Zn exceeding the national background in surface water were detected in the surface waters at the studied sites.

Shuying Wang, The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resource Originally came from China and have resided in U.S. for almost 20 years. North Carolina licensed Geologist; BS and MS in Geology. Was engaged in mineral resource, low temperature Geochemistry, and Hydrogeological research for 7 years and soil and groundwater incident management for 12 years. Since 2006, as a hydrogeologist joined to the Groundwater Resource Evaluation Program of the Aquifer Protection Section of the Division of Water Quality of the North Carolina Department.


2007 NGWA Ground Water Expo and Annual Meeting