Hog Lagoons News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Reporting. in the current conditions a lot of farmers can't even get to their farms to even assess the damage. the real number of these hog lagoons spewing toxic waste, it could go up dramatically. and tonight we have reason to believe that it will. it's not just the farmers who can't get back to see how much damage there is. it's also inspectors from the state, from the north carolina department of environmental quality. flooding is so bad they've been unable to visit these sites, unable to visit these hog lagoons, even the ones that they know are breached so they can test the water to see wh...

>> as just a human being, the idea of gigantic pits full of hog waste is a gross seeming thing, even in the best of times. in this case, thinking about those things being inundated with floodwaters and then spread, it's obviously viscerally uncomfortable because we can imagine what those things are like. what's the danger of toxicity and pollution? >> hog lagoons can have bacteria other things that wouldn't be great if you were to come into contact with them or drink them. can contaminate sources of drinking water. but it's not just hog waste floating around in the water. one of the pictures y...

Pork-producing state. roughly 9 million hogs on farms all around north carolina. back in 1999 during hurricane floyd, dozens of what are called hog lagoons, big lagoons, filled with toxic hog waste ended up swamped by floyd. they sent toxic waste downstream, polluted wildlife in a big way. as of yesterday, 77 hog lagoons, quote, have either released pig waste into the environment or are at eminent risk of doing so. that's more than double the count from the day before when the number was just 34. today, according to the state, the number of hog lagoons that have structural damage or have alrea...

Thing and even in the best of times. in this case, thinking of those things being in floodwaters and spread, it is viscerally uncomfortable because of what we can imagine those things are like. what's the real danger in terms of toxicity and pollution? >> well, hog lagoons can have bacteria and other things that were not great if you were to come in contact with them or drink them, it can contain sources of drinking water of contamination. one of the pictures you showed was the municipal plant that's affected with floodwaters and chicken farms and turkeys and about 5500 hogs. that and industri...

In the current condition, a lot of farmers can't even get to their farms to assess the damage. it could go up dramatically. tonight we have reason to believe that it will. it is not just the farmers who can't get back to see how much damage there is. there is also inspector from the state. flooding is so bad, they have been unable to visit the sites and hog lagoons or the ones they know they breach or they can test the water and see what sort of damage is being done. investigators have been relying on things like photographs of these hog lagoons, widespread devastation and tell-tale trails of ...