What a Dump: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Water Contamination

In the last few decades industrial agriculture operations have grown exponentially, including Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs. Many documentaries make claims to the extent of water contamination caused by runoff and waste from CAFO. This project took 2013 EPA and USDA data to make a visual representation of the effects of CAFOs on nearby water systems. This project mapped out several CAFO locations in the United States and investigated water quality around these facilities. The maps differentiated between types of CAFOS such as broilers (chickens for meat), swine, and cattle/beef to see which facilities had a greater impact on the environment. This project provided quantifiable evidence that CAFOs significantly affect their local water systems.