Investigate Midwest The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting important waterways from pollution, but manure from concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, continues to harm waterways — and only one-third of the largest facilities have a federal permit. 

EPA permits require CAFO operators to tell the agency how much waste the animals will produce and how the manure will be disposed of. States are largely responsible for issuing these permits, but that has resulted in patchy oversight, despite CAFOs being known environmental dangers.