UD-led study: Feds overestimate poultry pollution

A University of Delaware-led study has found that decades-old federal standards overestimate current poultry industry contributions to water pollution.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that researchers found that nitrogen levels in poultry house manure are 55 percent lower than the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards.

Efforts to eliminate waterway dead zones and algal blooms nationwide have focused on pollution from manure.

The EPA said Tuesday that a committee has been formed to settle the issue and officials hope data will show that nutrient reduction efforts are getting results. The agency says the Chesapeake Bay Program, a federal-state partnership that coordinates bay restoration efforts, will decide how the information will be used.

Delmarva Poultry Industry’s Bill Satterfield says the standards are not relevant to how chickens are raised today.