Pathogens In Manures: Real Risks & Real Issues

Manures, or animal residuals as they are now often called, present two major problems to their disposition and beneficial reuse—management of the inorganic nutrients and elimination of the pathogens that they contain (USEPA, 1998). Most regulatory attention has been paid to the control of phosphate deposition from manure spreading practices. At the recent conference on Animal Residuals Management sponsored by WEF and the USDA it was pointed out that there has been a major imbalance in the distribution of nutrients on a country-wide scale here in the U.S. (Rudek, 1999). Nutrients are used in the Mid-west to grow grains which are shipped to the Eastern U.S. to be used in animal feedlot operations. The resultant animals are distributed for sale in the eastern states and the manures from their raising are spread locally. This has resulted in a national shift in phosphate concentrations in soils. I predict that technologies that eliminate the pathogens in these manures and that produce finished products that can be easily transported are going to receive much and increasing attention as a solution to this imbalance.