Geosynthetic Clay Liners for Animal Residuals Containment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as of 1992 there were 450,000 animal feeding operations (AFOs) in the United States. They also estimate that, due to industry consolidation, 70% of the animal residuals comes from 5% of the operations. NPDES regulatory effluent guidelines call for no discharge from AFOs, except during a 25-year storm event. Standard practice is to store animal residuals until it can be land applied, which typically is restricted to before or after the growing season. Thus, sufficient storage capacity is required to handle the animal residuals generated during this period.