This map shows the locations of animal feeding operations in the Western Lake Erie Basin, or WLEB, and within a 5-mile buffer of the WLEB. A small number of operations are required to have a permit; they are the orange points on the map. Most animal feeding operations do not have or need a permit. The unpermitted operations on the map are purple.
The WLEB is a watershed encompassing nearly 6 million acres in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio that drains into Lake Erie, which has a well-known toxic algae bloom every summer. The algae bloom is largely driven by phosphorus and nitrate that comes from animal manure and commercial fertilizer applied to farm fields in the basin. According to the Ohio State University, 85 percent of the phosphorus that ends up in Lake Erie comes from agriculture.
The dark gray color on the map represents the geographical area of the Western Lake Erie Basin, and the light gray shows the 5-mile-wide buffer just outside the basin. We needed to include this buffer to better portray the amount of manure phosphorus applied to farm fields in the basin, because manure from animal feeding operations outside the basin is also applied in the basin, and vice versa.
Clicking on each animal feeding operation point provides information about the operation, specifically, whether the operation requires and has a permit, the predominant type of animal produced at the facility, the number of animals raised in the facility if the operation is permitted or the estimated number of animals in the facility if the operation is unpermitted, and the estimated amount of phosphorus in the manure produced by the animals housed in the operation.
EWG received location and attribute information about the permitted operations from state agencies. To find the locations of and provide animal attribute information for unpermitted animal feeding operations, we used high-resolution satellite data and aerial photography.
To see more information about the animal feeding operations within the WLEB and the 5-mile buffer, as well as the amount of manure phosphorus they produce, read the report here. For information about how we located and attributed the animal feeding operation points, see our methodology.
