Pigs potty-trained to reduce water pollution

Poultry feces from hog farms have fouled rivers, streams, and underground aquifers immensely. To tackle the farm waste problem, EPA has crafted a potty-training method to regulate swine defecation and urination. The plan is expected to lower farming cost while reducing the level of water pollution.

The method aims to construct “pig toilets” on designated areas within the barns. Where farmers have often treated nearby rivers as open-toilet for the pigs, they will now set up specialized areas — metal boards with small holes — to act as potty training pads.

To train the pigs, the farmers will place old feces or urine on the boards, allowing the odor to attract and encourage piglets to eliminate on the area. Fecal matter on the boards will be vacuumed regularly while the small holes were designed so that urine will simply seep through.

Among all the water pollution complaints filed to EPA, 18 percent — a total of 140 tons of waste — were on livestock farming wastewater. To reduce the level of water pollution, the administration is conducting another strategy that involves researching and developing the pig waste into fertilizing sources.

According to Chang Chung-tou, a hog farm owner in Yunlin County, the implementation of potty training practices have reduced half of the water cost at his farm and effectively halted the complaints of neighbors and the EPA alike. Chang has built 600 specialized areas as “pig toilets” for the thousands of pigs at his barn; he boasted that around 95 percent of the pigs now relieve themselves on the “pig training pads.”

The EPA's levy will be imposed on approximately 12,000 businesses nationwide. The first year of the levy is projected to bring in NT$300 million to the National Treasury. The money will be used to better regulate water pollution control and help hog farms and factories lower their pollution.

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