Agricultural economy, especially animal husbandry, through legal norms, is obliged to protect the environment, and in particular for activities aimed at the proper collection and storage of manure. Storage of manure directly on the soil surface results in the entry of harmful substances into groundwater, which is a threat to the environment, and thus for a human who is a part of it. For several dozen years manure on farms was stored in prisms directly on the ground. Leaks from manure pits have penetrated to groundwater, which in consequence led to gradual degradation of the aquatic environment and living organisms (e.g. eutrophication and water blooming), as well as to the growth of cancer cases or abortions of farm animals. Currently, a quite popular solution is the construction of impermeable manure plates, which as a result, also are interference in the natural environment and constitute a significant cost for farmers. A team of experts from the European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology PAS has developed an innovative technological product which, in terms of construction, assembly and production costs estimated, is a viable solution for each farm. The use of the Organic Manure Plate in agriculture will significantly reduce the outflow of nitrogen pollutants from manure storage to groundwater, as a result will also increase the level of human and animal health safety and enable farmers to respect legal norms on threatened areas.

The current value of water quality indicators is also influenced by the type of technologies used in a water and sewage management. Taking into account the current results of scientific research, which indicate insufficient degree of municipal wastewater treatment, the ERCE PAS team has developed a product of the Sequential Biofiltration System of Wastewater which application will significantly improve the level of purity of waters returning to the ecosystem from wastewater treatment plants.

We encourage all owners of farms and managers of wastewater treatment plants to get acquainted with the emerging, technologically innovative products called the Organic Manure Plate and the Sequential Biofiltration System of Wastewater. We invite you to discuss and address questions to ERCE PAS researchers on the e-mail address: azostop (at) erce.unesco.lodz.pl

The ERCE PAS team