Development of Swine Wastewater Dewatering/composting Facility

Swine production in North Carolina is second only to Iowa of hogs on farms (Graham, 1995) with 8.3 million head. Cash receipts from 1994 salts exceeded 980 million dollars representing 15.4 percent of total agricultural cash receipts. Using the underfloor flush-lagoon treatment system ofmanure management is reported to produce 950 gallons per year per pig capacity for growing-finishing operations. Disposal of such large volumes of wastewater containing 0.5-3.0% solids from these production facilities in an environmentally safe and economically sound manner is a current concem. The current method ofhandlingthese wastewaters is by land application which has many limitations including risks of ground and surface water contamination by leachates and runoff from overflowing lagoons during inclement weather and excess rainfall.