TY - JOUR
T1 - Potential water quality impacts originating from land burial of cattle carcasses
AU - Yuan, Qi
AU - Snow, Daniel D.
AU - Bartelt-Hunt, Shannon L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality . We greatly appreciate the water chemistry and organic microcontaminant analysis by David Cassada, Sathaporn Onanong and Jesse Volker in the UNL Water Science Laboratory. Many thanks to Fang Yuan, Samuel Saunders, Jodi Sangster, Meng Hu, and Andy Nelson for their assistance with sample collection.
PY - 2013/7/1
Y1 - 2013/7/1
N2 - Among the conventional disposal methods for livestock mortalities, on-farm burial is a preferred method, but the potential water quality impacts of animal carcass burial are not well understood. Typically, on-farm burial pits are constructed without liners and any leachate produced may infiltrate into soil and groundwater. To date, no information is available on temporal trends for contaminants in leachate produced from livestock mortality pits. In our study, we examined the concentrations of conventional contaminants including electrical conductivity, COD, TOC, TKN, TP, and solids, as well as veterinary antimicrobials and steroid hormones in leachate over a period of 20. months. Most of the contaminants were detected in leachate after 50. days of decomposition, reaching a peak concentration at approximately 200. days and declined to baseline levels by 400. days. The estrogen 17β-estradiol and a veterinary antimicrobial, monensin, were observed at maximum concentrations of 20,069. ng/L and 11,980. ng/L, respectively. Estimated mass loading of total steroid hormone and veterinary pharmaceuticals were determined to be 1.84 and 1.01. μg/kg of buried cattle carcass materials, respectively. These data indicate that leachate from carcass burial sites represents a potential source of nutrients, organics, and residues of biologically active micro-contaminants to soil and groundwater.
AB - Among the conventional disposal methods for livestock mortalities, on-farm burial is a preferred method, but the potential water quality impacts of animal carcass burial are not well understood. Typically, on-farm burial pits are constructed without liners and any leachate produced may infiltrate into soil and groundwater. To date, no information is available on temporal trends for contaminants in leachate produced from livestock mortality pits. In our study, we examined the concentrations of conventional contaminants including electrical conductivity, COD, TOC, TKN, TP, and solids, as well as veterinary antimicrobials and steroid hormones in leachate over a period of 20. months. Most of the contaminants were detected in leachate after 50. days of decomposition, reaching a peak concentration at approximately 200. days and declined to baseline levels by 400. days. The estrogen 17β-estradiol and a veterinary antimicrobial, monensin, were observed at maximum concentrations of 20,069. ng/L and 11,980. ng/L, respectively. Estimated mass loading of total steroid hormone and veterinary pharmaceuticals were determined to be 1.84 and 1.01. μg/kg of buried cattle carcass materials, respectively. These data indicate that leachate from carcass burial sites represents a potential source of nutrients, organics, and residues of biologically active micro-contaminants to soil and groundwater.
KW - Burial
KW - Cattle carcasses
KW - Leachate
KW - Organic contaminants
KW - Steroids
KW - Veterinary pharmaceuticals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876727315&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876727315&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.083
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.083
M3 - Article
C2 - 23602978
AN - SCOPUS:84876727315
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 456-457
SP - 246
EP - 253
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
ER -