THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504170024
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Environmental aces are taking to the skies for a bird's-eye view of North Carolina's landscape.
Airplanes are the latest weapons to be used by the Neuse River Foundation Inc., a regional environmental group, to monitor and protect the health of the river and its watershed.
The environmental air force, which first flew two months ago, is made up of 20 volunteer pilots and spotters who take turns flying each week. They have no official authority, but as they soar well above the tree tops, they supplement 70 people who monitor the Neuse and its tributaries from the ground and from the water.
``They're not only looking for pollution, but they are up there as an eye in the sky, looking at everything that influences the river, whether it's good or bad,'' said Rick Dove, who usually monitors the Neuse River from a boat in his job as river keeper for the foundation.
Dove recently took to the skies for an aerial view of his territory.
From a small airplane 1,000 feet up, pilot Phil Bowie spotted a huge hog farm and circled overhead while Dove leaned out a window and took aim with a camera.
Below, a sprayer apparently pumping wastewater from a hog house lagoon spurted across an open field beside a swamp. The pulsing shower left a large saturated circle clearly visible from the air.
``You can see that the sprayer is right on the edge of the wetlands,'' Dove said as he shot a string of photos. ``You can see the water running off.''
The airborne spotters look for fish kills, oil spills and algae blooms. They document direct discharges, such as pipes from industries and municipalities, and indirect runoff from fields and forests. Later this year, they will be on the outlook for manatees visiting coastal waters, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
So far, the air force has focused on large corporate hog farms. Foundation members plan to photograph and map every hog operation in the watershed so they can watch for potential problems.
Dove said hog operations have proliferated in the past few years, threatening area waters with pollution from wastewater lagoons and runoff. In some cases, the lagoons are built near wetlands that drain into surface water, he said.
``When you fly the skies, you don't see hogs any more,'' Dove said. ``All you see are barns, lagoons, covered wetlands and black water running into the river.''
``My feeling is that these aviators and this program have increased our capabilities by 100 percent,''Dove said. ``In one or two hours we can find what I think are major sources of pollution along the river, figure out where they are and do something about them.''
One recent mission resulted in a photo spread of a hog operation that had a sprinkler system to spray wastewater from lagoons onto farm fields. But Dove said aerial spotters also observed a field drainage system and a ditch that appeared to lead to the river. If the sprinkler system puts polluted water in the ditches, he says, it could reach the river.
In such a situation, the foundation will send a letter to the farm owner asking to discuss the concerns. Dove said the foundation prefers to work cooperatively with owners to correct problems.
But if a violation appears to be intentional or if cooperation doesn't work, the foundation will notify state regulatory agencies. That has happened in at least one case in Pamlico County, where an anonymous caller reported a direct discharge from a lagoon into a stream.
Pork producers know the planes are swooping around. Some farmers have complained to Dove that the air force is picking on them. And Walter Cherry, executive director of the North Carolina Pork Producers Association, said some area farmers have mentioned the flights.
``The good producers who are doing what they are supposed to be doing, it doesn't worry them,'' he said.
Cherry said it's unlikely, because of state and federal regulations, that hog farms or waste lagoons are built in wetlands. The hog farms, especially new ones, must have waste management plans approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before they start operating.
The foundation hopes to obtain money for aerial operations from private sources. The costs, which can reach $80 an hour, now are absorbed by the pilots and spotters. by CNB