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Proposed national standard for phosphorus derailed by critics
Controlling manure key to resolving phosphorus woes
USGS refines long-term flow estimates for Chesapeake
Don’t blame poultry industry for phosphorus loads flowing into Potomac
Your recent article, “Sampling of Bay’s rivers yields surprises.” (October 2005) on nutrient trends in the Bay’s nontidal tributaries states that increased phosphorus concentrations measured at Chain Bridge in the District of Columbia are, in part, “no doubt coming from the Shenandoah, where the poultry industry has been booming” and where “phosphorus concentrations in the North Fork of the Shenandoah River are 300 percent higher than they were in 1985.”
In reality, the poultry industry has drastically cut its discharge of phosphorus into the North Fork.
In August 2002, George’s Chicken Division—two years ahead of regulatory mandates—completed a $3.2 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment facility serving its poultry processing and rendering plants in Edinburg, VA, drastically reducing its phosphorus (and nitrogen) discharge into Stony Creek, which flows into the North Fork just upstream from the monitoring stations to which this 300 percent increase is attributed.
An evaluation of data from a monitoring station near Strasburg, VA, and another near Front Royal, VA, does reveal a temporary spike in phosphorus concentrations at those locations between 1999 and 2003. But it is important to recognize that this was an increase in concentration, not necessarily an increase in the total load flowing into the Potomac and ultimately, the Bay.
The increase in phosphorus concentration is more likely attributable to the drought and historic low flow conditions in the river rather than any sudden increase in phosphorus discharge.
If there was an increase, it was not coming from the poultry industry; our phosphorus discharge remained steady until the end of 2002, when it went way down as a result of the aforementioned wastewater treatment upgrades.
Furthermore, the poultry industry in the Shenandoah Valley has not been “booming.” The valley’s poultry industry grew steadily from the mid–1980s through mid–1990s. During this time, turkey production increased from 13 million to more than 26 million.
Since the mid-1990s, though, poultry production in the valley has leveled off and in recent years has declined somewhat. In 2004, the valley produced a little less than 20 million turkeys.
In addition to the millions of dollars spent on poultry-processing waste treatment upgrades, virtually all valley poultry farms have, during the last 10 years, implemented nutrient management practices, which for the past five years have been regulatory mandates for the vast majority of these family farms.
In addition, poultry companies have helped to reduce the phosphorus content of poultry litter by more than 20 percent through changes in feed management.
The past decade has seen substantial population growth in the Bay watershed, particularly in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
The valley is also under development pressure, but the remaining poultry industry generates farm income that is helping to preserve farmland and open spaces and reduce the rate of farmland conversion to the type of land uses that are a greater cause of increasing nutrient concentrations.
Hobey Bauhan
President, Virginia Poultry Federation
