Manure-leak tests to begin at hog farm

Drilling to test for hog manure leakage is set to begin at C&H Hog Farms near Mount Judea in Newton County, according to an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality news release.

Little Rock-based Harbor Environmental contracted with Cascade Drilling of Memphis to conduct the drilling.

The department hired Harbor Environmental as the contractor for the project for $75,000. The company designed the plan and hired Cascade Drilling as a subcontractor.

The research, which is to be conducted on C&H Hog Farms’ private land, was requested by opponents of the hog farm — including the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, which filed a lawsuit — earlier this year after they learned of research done in 2015 that showed what they said was an unexpectedly high amount of moisture beneath one of the farm’s manure ponds.

C&H sits on Big Creek about 6 miles from where it converges with the Buffalo River. It is the only federally classified large hog farm in the river’s watershed and is permitted to house up to 6,000 piglets and 2,503 sows.