Protecting Your Groundwater Through Farmstead
Assessment:
Assessing Your Hazardous Waste Management
Practices
AE-1075, July 1998
John Nowatzki, Water Quality Associate
Bruce Seelig, Water Quality Specialist
Thomas Scherer, Agricultural Engineer
Many of the wastes generated on the farm are
hazardous and can contaminate groundwater if not disposed of
properly. There are thousands of farmstead and household products
that contain toxic chemicals.
How to Determine If a Product is Hazardous
Essentially, a product is considered to be hazardous if it is
defined as toxic, flammable, corrosive, and/or irritant. Toxic
means the product may cause injury or death upon ingestion,
absorption, or inhalation. Flammable means the product can be
ignited under almost all temperature conditions. Corrosive means
the product, or its vapors, can cause deterioration or
irreversible alteration in body tissues at the site of contact
and deteriorate or wear away at the surface of a material.
Irritant means that the product can cause soreness or
inflammation of the skin, eyes, mucous membranes, or respiratory
system. Products that have these properties include household
chemicals such as those used for cleaning and personal care,
automotive products, pesticides, fertilizers, and their
containers. If you are not sure whether a product is hazardous,
check the product label. If it says CAUTION and has a warning
about being toxic, flammable, corrosive or irritant, or causing
health threatening conditions, the product is hazardous.
What to Consider Before Buying a Product
One way to reduce the risk of groundwater contamination is to
reduce the amount of hazardous wastes generated on your
farmstead. This can be done by carefully considering the answers
to these questions before you buy.
- Do you really need the product?
- Is there something similar that you could use that is
less hazardous?
- Have you considered how much of the product you need?
- Have you checked the product label to determine if the
product is hazardous?
- Do you know how to properly dispose of product containers
or the product itself if there is some left over?
- If some product is left over, can you give the unused
amount to someone else?
- Is there a business or community collection facility that
will accept the unused portion of the product for
disposal or use by someone else?
You should know that in some cases there is not an acceptable
way of disposing of some products on the farmstead. When this is
the case, it is recommended that these products be stored in a
safe place until a collection day for hazardous wastes is
organized in your area.
Storing hazardous wastes safely requires some planning. You
should make sure of the following:
- Product labels are attached and readable.
- Product containers are in good condition.
- The area where you are going to store the products has an
impermeable surface.
- You can monitor the area for leaks or spills.
- Products are not in an area open to activities that could
damage containers or result in chemical spills.
- The area is not accessible to children.
- Products are in an area that is locked to discourage
theft and vandalism.
This circular contains a brief discussion of each question on
the Farmstead Assessment checklist, and a section discussing what
you can do and who to call if you answer "Yes" to any
of the questions.
1. Do you dispose of hazardous household chemicals such as
furniture polish, paints, stains, and drain cleaners or their
containers on your farmstead?
Household chemicals such as furniture polish, paints,
stains, and drain cleaners can pose serious problems to your
drinking water quality.
Many farms have trash pits located on the premises.
Continual use of these pits over several years may lead to
buildup of hazardous chemicals in a relatively small area.
The potential for measurable amounts of these chemicals to
move to the groundwater increases significantly when they are
concentrated in this way.
2. Do you dispose of waste oil and grease, used antifreeze,
or lead acid batteries on your farmstead?
Effective January 1, 1992, North Dakota law states that
waste oil and grease, lead-acid batteries, and major
appliances may not be included in municipal waste or
discarded or disposed of in landfills.
One quart of used motor oil can make 250,000 gallons of
water undrinkable. According to some estimates, the amount of
oil that is improperly disposed of into household refuse, or
dumped on the ground, or into the sewer, in the United
States, is approximately 57 times the amount of oil that was
spilled by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.
Lead-acid batteries can contain up to 18 pounds of lead
and one gallon of lead-contaminated sulfuric acid.
3. Do you dispose of unwanted or banned pesticides or
pesticide containers on your farmstead?
Pesticides and pesticide containers, including those used
for indoor plants and yard care, can lead to contamination of
drinking water if not properly disposed.
All pesticides and their containers should be handled
according to the label provided to prevent health and
environmental problems. Particular attention should be used
when dealing with pesticides classified as "restricted
use".
Old, unused and banned pesticides and their containers
should not be disposed on the farm. They should be stored in
a safe place until a collection site is organized for proper
disposal.
Assessing Hazardous Waste Management Practices
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If you answered
"Yes" to the
following What you
questions. should do Who to call Other references
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Question 1. Quit dumping Local landfill Solid Waste Management
hazardous house- to see if they and Land Protection
hold chemicals will accept Rules. North Dakota
into open trash your waste State Dept. of Health.
pits and have products or Art. 33-20.
the chemicals the product
disposed of company for a
properly. specific Solid and Hazardous
product con- Waste Management Plan.
cern. Available at Chester
Fritz Library, UND.
---------------------------------------------- 701-777-4629. 701/777-4629.
Question 2. Stop disposing Call your
these products local county Storage and Disposal of
on your farm. Extension Pesticides and Containers
office or on the Farm. NDSU
local landfill Extension Circular AE-897.
for information
about proper
disposal.
----------------------------------------------
Question 3. Inventory all North Dakota State
pesticides and Dept. of Health-
containers on Solid Waste Program,
your farmstead. 701-328-5166 about
waste pesticide
collection sites.
Local county Extension
office.
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AE-1076, July 1998
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