River drain.

Study: Steep Rise in Factory Farms Along Maumee River

Although regulators nationally insist the public need not worry about the explosive growth of large livestock facilities where hundreds of animals are confined under a single roof and the manure generated by them gets harder to manage each year, a growing chorus of environmentalists are demanding action.

April 9, 2019 | Source: Toledo Blade | by Tom Henry

Although regulators nationally insist the public need not worry about the explosive growth of large livestock facilities where hundreds of animals are confined under a single roof and the manure generated by them gets harder to manage each year, a growing chorus of environmentalists are demanding action.

In the words of Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie founder Mike Ferner, the situation has gotten “totally out of control.”

Mr. Ferner’s group and others were responding Tuesday to a study done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group and the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center, which has satellite offices throughout the Great Lakes region.

EWG and the ELPC came up with what it believes are some eyebrow-raising conclusions after homing in on the sprawling Maumee River watershed, which has gained more attention internationally since nutrient-fed algal blooms made the Toledo area’s tap water unsafe to drink the first weekend of August, 2014.