"Pig Poop Fouling North Carolina Streams; State Permitting Questioned"

"Streams near large factory pig farms have high levels of bacteria. Health groups are raising a stink."

"Few people know the pig business like North Carolina’s Don Webb.

Webb raised pigs in Wilson County, North Carolina, until, in the late 70s, residents told him the smell near his farms was unbearable. He tried some solutions. They didn’t work.

'I was riding down the road and got to thinking of my own mother and father and what would I do if one of these was their homes [near the pig farms],' Webb said in his heavy Southern drawl. 'So I got out of the business.'

Webb, 74, soon went from pig farmer to vocal critic. Over the past few decades he’s frequently done battle with the large pig farms in North Carolina over their waste management. He once took former state Sen. Wendell Murphy, owner of Murphy Farms and notorious for pushing industry-friendly laws, for a ride in his pickup truck to show him his farm's impacts."

Brian Bienkowski reports for Environmental Health News February 18, 2015.