Spreading Manure

As usual, the La Conner Weekly News was “edutaining” last week. I was intrigued by a letter from Mr. Sather about where he might be able to pump his septic tank. As a past member of the county’s solid waste advisory committee, I can shed some light on the situation.

Cows have three stomachs, a very simple vegetarian diet and are a different species of mammal. These differences are significant enough to make the chances of disease and parasite transmission quite remote. The lagoons of cow manure are treated similarly to the sewage treatment plant at the edge of town. The manure lagoons are appl...