Company officials discounted the possibility of groundwater contamination because of the presence of a clay layer beneath the plastic liner. Circle Four told us specifically that the lagoons were either lined with clay or plastic, not both. At a DWQ meeting in December, an expert for the citizens' group suggested that the lagoons could fail and listed numerous problems with the farm's waste disposal technology. The citizens' group is urging the state to look into other methods of disposing of hog waste. In addition to concerns about odor, citizens are worried about air pollution from ammonia, a form of nitrogen that results when nitrogen from manure lagoons volatilizes.
Ammonia can travel long distances, then fall back to the ground when it rains.
In large quantities, ammonia can produce algae detrimental to fish. Some experts speculate that in dry climates, such as Utah's, more of the nitrogen from manure lagoons may be converted to ammonia than in wetter locations. 21 Regulatory Climate Utah's primary regulatory system for CAFOs involves groundwater permits. Circle Four's permit also includes requirements for groundwater testing and reporting for lagoons that exceed a certain size. However, Circle 4 failed to meet the groundwater reporting requirements when the company contaminated groundwater in August 1996.