Chapter 3: Reducing Water Pollution Through Veganism

This week's excerpt from Going Vegan to Save the Planet comes from Chapter 3: Reducing Water Pollution Through Veganism

Chapter 3 of Going Vegan to Save the Planet explains how animal agriculture is using vast amounts of our freshwater supply and poisoning the little that is left. The chapter makes it clear that reducing water pollution through veganism isn't only possible, it's vital.

The excerpt is taken from the section of chapter 3 titled, Manure in Your Drinking Water.

Animal agriculture is consuming our drinking water and poisoning what is left

Manure in Your Drinking Water

Animal faeces in your drinking water sounds unconscionable. Unfortunately, there are many examples of manure contaminating water supplies. Excess manure from muck spreading, poor storage, or heavy rain can wash pathogens into water supplies. These pathogens include bacteria, viruses and parasites such as worms from animal excrement. This pollution poses a significant risk to human health. It can lead to waterborne diseases such as E. coli and Salmonella infections. This is a particular problem when they contaminate water supplies used in the food industry.

A study, authored by Giannis Koukkidis et al., found that bagged salads are a risk for Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria poisoning. Contamination during salad production causes this issue. It can happen at any stage: planting, growing, harvesting, or processing. The bacteria from animals can live on plants or inside plant structures. In soil or water supplies, it can enter plants through the roots, including bacteria from manure. These bacteria cannot be washed away as they protect themselves with a biofilm. Bacteria will form these protective layers on leaves or the inside of a salad bag. This has led to the recall of many salad products, advisories to not eat romaine lettuce, food poisonings and several deaths.

Animals can detect manure contamination, but humans cannot. This leaves us all vulnerable to the dangers that result from spraying manure over fields of food grown for human consumption. The risk is well-known, studied and documented, yet the practice continues.

Farmer Given Community Service for Manure Pollution

In May 2024, authorities charged UK farmer Derek Dyer in court with contaminating a private water supply and polluting a stream. The contamination resulted from the collapse of a slurry store, built from farmyard manure.

In January 2023, Environment Agency officers investigated reports of pollution in a tributary of the River Isle. They went to Crawley Farm in Yarcombe, near Honiton, after several members of the public raised concerns. The pollution traced back to a large structure that had been storing slurry, where one wall had partially collapsed. Investigators found that the farmer had constructed the structure from farmyard manure. The damaged wall resulted in the entire store's contents pouring out. It caused widespread contamination of the soil, water and other natural areas.

The slurry flowed across two fields and down the hillside, into a wooded area. The volume of the slurry and the speed with which it flowed were enough to damage two wire fences. It left a track that was up to 20 m wide in places. There were 12-inch tidelines on fence posts from the manure before it flowed into the wooded area, over 400 m from the store location. The slurry mixture, intended to be fertiliser, caused extensive damage and contamination in the wooded area. E. coli-infected freshwater springs that supplied drinking water to many houses. Total coliforms were above safe drinking water standards, so residents were given bottled water. The wild swimming pond at a nearby glamping site had to close due to pollution from the manure mix.

The farmer, Mr Dyer, received a community order of 60 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay costs of £15,388.40, with a surcharge of £114 by the judge.

Read more about how animal agriculture is both consuming and poisoning our water supply in Going Vegan to Save the Planet, available in hardback, paperback and eBook.

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