3 Ways To Avoid Water Contamination on Your Small Farm

As crucial as water is to all living organisms on our planet, it can be remarkably fragile. Humans have an unfortunate history of mismanaging and misusing water supplies, which has led to a lot of issues for both people and animals.

If you’re running your own farming operation, water affects your very livelihood on a daily basis, so it’s essential that you do everything you can to protect it. These are a few ways to avoid water contamination on your farm that you’ll want to keep in mind so you can continue to rely on your water supply well into the future.

Properly Manage and Store Manure

Manure is a fact of life on most farms, whether or not they have livestock. Manure management is one of the simplest ways you can prevent water contamination on your own farm. If you only use manure for fertilizer, pay careful attention to where you store your supply, as one small mistake can spell a disaster for a nearby water supply.

For livestock farms, you’ll need to consider where your livestock tend to graze and how heavily they graze as well. Exposing the soil through overgrazing or allowing too much manure to build up in one spot leaves it prone to erosion, which can send manure directly into local water supplies if you aren’t careful.

Planting Conservation Buffers

Conservation buffers are an essential part of protecting water supplies. You never want your farm to be directly up against a water supply such as a river because of possible runoff issues. To prevent runoff from contaminating nearby water, you should utilize conservation buffers.

Trees, long and absorbent grass variants, and certain shrubs make for excellent conservation buffers when planted between your farm and any nearby water supplies. These plants create a natural barrier that prevents contaminants from reaching water supplies.

Effective Float Valves

If you have a watering system that connects directly to a main source of water, then backflow is an issue you’ll need to consider. It’s imperative that potential contaminants from livestock don’t make their way back into the overall watering system—and that’s where a solid float valve kit comes in handy.

Best Float Valves can provide you with a reliable float valve kit that you can rely on well into the future. They’re simple to install in your system and are the perfect solution for any problem your watering system might have. With no minimum pressure requirements, Best Float Valve can get you what you need, no matter how large or small your operation is.