US regulation of animal feeding operations: Need for a watershed approach

摘要

Animal feeding operation (AFOs) and other agricultural activities are conspicuously contributing to the impairment of water quality in the United States. With the marked expansion of AFOs and problems created by large numbers of animals in a confined area, US federal and state governments have enacted laws and regulations to address the problems associated with animal waste. Overall, the regulations are unduly dependent on animal units at a single location and show a lack of meaningful criteria that relate excessive nutrient discharges to water quality needs of individual watersheds. Rather than adopting blanket regulatory proscriptions, regulators should look for alternative signalling and screening devices to address sitespecific problems.