Pure Farms, Pure Waters

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch’s Pure Farms, Pure Waters campaign calls attention to the destructive pollution practices of industrial agriculture and factory farms, ensures compliance with environmental laws, and supports the traditional family farms that industrial practices endanger.

The Pure Farms, Pure Waters campaign addresses the failure to regulate pollution from industrialized swine, poultry, and dairy facilities that is devastating rivers, lakes, and estuaries and lowering quality of life in our communities.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch (CCRW) works to educate the public about the impacts to quality of water and quality of life, supports communities and local farmers, and advocates for sustainable food systems.

We work to help decision makers understand the need to strengthen and enforce existing rules on the discharge of animal waste into our waterways, seek to hold corporations that dictate facility operations accountable for waste management practices, promote best management policies that protect our waterways and support independent farmers, and take legal action against violators.

“CAFO pollution has affected North Carolinians for decades. Each year, NC hogs produce 10 billion gallons of manure. This unmanageable amount of waste is contaminating our waterways and harming our communities. In our watershed, the New River is most heavily impacted. Coastal Carolina Riverwatch collects regular water samples surrounding these facilities to analyze for fecal bacteria. We also conduct watershed flyovers to look for pollution violations. By collecting this data, we can work with several statewide partners to advocate for the reform of these destructive industries”. -Rebecca Drohan, Waterkeeper, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch (in photo).

CCRW will be highlighting this program during the month of October and provide regular updates throughout the year.