Overflowing Hog Lagoons Raise Environmental Concerns In North Carolina

With the full extent of the damage done by Hurricane Florence still being assessed, environmentalists and health officials are expressing concern over the pink shaded ponds on hog farms that have overflowed into surrounding flood waters. No, those ponds aren't hogwash, they're actually hog waste. Technically, the pools of waste are hog lagoons. They're used to collect waste from the animals that then mixes with water in order to break the feces down. Mark Rice, director of the animal and poultry waste management center at North Carolina State University, says the pink hue of a hog lagoon is the result of a bacteria in the mixture.