A new—and economically practical—manure treatment system developed for North Carolina hog farmers is looking very positive. In the late 1990s, the forecast was not terribly good for North Carolina as they were facing some serious pollution problems: municipal wastes, agricultural run-off, swine manure in lagoons and sprayfields. In July 2000, the North Carolina Attorney General and Smithfield Foods, Inc, and its subsidiary companies, agreed to a legally binding pledge to develop and implement new technology that would protect both the environment and the economy. They came up with a system that actually recycles a lot of the water. The new technology allows hog waste to be flushed out of barns with copious amounts of water, but instead of going into a lagoon, the waste is collected in a tank. In this tank, the liquids and solids separate. Ideally, the solids will be converted to Class A biosolids or energy, but the final outcome of the solids has not been decided. A polymer floculant and sanitizing solution are then injected into the liquid, which then enters a settling tank. The polymer settles out the small solids still remaining in the liquid. Some settle at the bottom while others float at the top of the tank. The middle contains clear liquid, and the sanitizer helps kill any remaining  pathogens in the liquid. The settled and floating solids enter a leach field (similar to a home septic system). The clear water is divided into two streams. The first stream is reused to flush out hog barns. The second stream undergoes additional wastewater treatment with filters and aeration. It can then be diluted with fresh water and used as drinking
water for the hogs. Technologies such as this offer the promise of a healthy environment and a healthy farm economy for the hog industries future as this technology decreases water usage by 50-60%.