OH residents raise concerns over CAFO permits and water quality risks

By Farah Siddiqi

Concerns about large livestock operations and water quality are resurfacing in Ohio as residents in several counties question how concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, are permitted and regulated across the state.

One case drawing attention is in Seneca County, where a proposed egg-laying operation received a permit through the Ohio Department of Agriculture, near the Sandusky River watershed. Advocates say residents worry about how manure waste and nutrients could affect nearby water sources and daily life.

Susie Crutchfield, regional representative of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project's Community Support Program, works with communities navigating CAFO permitting and challenges.

"If you were used to going out on your back porch and drinking a cup of coffee and this facility went in next to you, and now then you can’t sit out there because of the flies, because of the smell," she said, "and also you’re breathing in the dust that comes off of these facilities – could affect your health."

The Ohio Department of Agriculture oversees permits for facilities that state they do not discharge waste into regulated waterways, while the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regulates facilities that do. Community appeals can move cases into administrative or legal review.

Environmental groups say concerns such as these are not limited to one county. Ohio has hundreds of large livestock facilities, and monitoring how waste affects surface and groundwater can be challenging.

Cole Dickerson, the project's Water Rangers program manager, works nationally on water-quality issues related to livestock operations.

"These facilities produce a lot of waste," he said. "A lot of times it's manure, it's poop from animals – and it in many different ways gets into the water system, whether it’s surface water or groundwater. And as many of us know, we get our drinking water, sometimes it's surface water, sometimes it’s groundwater."

Dickerson said Ohio data show widespread bacterial impairment in assessed watersheds, while Crutchfield said communities often learn about proposed facilities late in the permitting process. Both said public awareness and local engagement play a key role as Ohio continues to balance agriculture, water protection and rural development.