Re: Local Fish Dying( Update, fine issued)
Official: Manure Pit Had 'Obvious Problems' <br />Tuesday, August 16, 2005, 5:54pm<br /><br /> <br />An official with the Jefferson County Soil And Water Conservation District says a manure pit that broke open had "obvious problems."<br /><br />Brian Wohnsiedler, the executive director of the district, spent six hours on the Marks farm in Lewis County last Friday, the day after the spill.<br /><br />"There were certain obvious problems with that structure," Wohnsiedler told 7 News.<br /><br />Three million gallons of liquid manure gushed out of the pit, poisoning thousands of fish in the Black River and prompting continuing warnings to avoid drinking from the Black River.<br /><br />Wohnsiedler works with farmers every day, and says liquid manure - and storage pits - are an important, necessary part of modern farming.<br /><br />"This was an exception," he said.<br /><br />Our reporter on the story, Jessica Layton, tried repeatedly to reach the Marks farm for comment Tuesday, but was not successful.<br /><br />In particular, Wohnsiedler says the manure pit that broke was not made from the material commonly used for such pits - clay.<br /><br />"The storage structure was not made of a clay material that we would typically see in earthen storage structures. It was made out of a sand structure."<br /><br />Wohnsiedler said every farm that feeds 200 or more animals and stores manure has to meet federal standards that have been adopted by New York State.<br /><br />He said he can only assume the problems with the manure pit were overlooked, not intentional.<br /><br />"I don't think anybody would knowingly take that type of risk, to have a manure storage structure of that size constructed out of a material that just is not suitable to contain the sheer volume and mass of manure that it held."<br /><br />The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for regulating the manure pits, and is investigating the spill.
