U.S. Water News Online
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A new research center is being proposed for the University of Arkansas to study the effects of phosphorus on water, an environmental issue at the heart of an Oklahoma lawsuit against several poultry companies.
The Watershed Research and Education Center is to be located at the university's Agricultural Research and Extension Center. A natural stream runs through the property and can be used by students and scientists to study the effects of phosphorus on area watersheds.
Andrew Sharpley, a leading expert on phosphorus management, has been hired to work with the center. University officials plan to announce further details soon.
Phosphorus is a nutrient crucial to plant growth, and farmers routinely use fertilizers containing phosphorus. It also is found in chicken litter.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed suit against the poultry companies, including Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest poultry producer, on June 13, 2005. The suit alleged that excess nutrients contained in poultry litter and washed off from fields overloaded the Illinois River watershed. Those excess nutrients led to algae blooms, increased carcinogenics and other ailments for the eastern Oklahoma scenic river.
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