Waste spills from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have had serious water quality impacts in eastern North Carolina and elsewhere. Berea College in east central Kentucky, USA operates a small (400 animal units per year) swine production facility, managed according to standard industry practice. Accidental lagoon overflows have negatively impacted water quality in a stock watering pond downslope from the swine facility. We collected soil samples from 100 georeferenced points in two small watersheds, one that receives lagoon overflow and an adjacent control watershed that receives no swine waste inputs. Soils were analyzed for available phosphorus (Mehlich-3 extractant), and the data analyzed using ArcGIS software (ESRI International). Water samples from the degraded stock watering pond and a nearby unaffected pond were also analyzed for molybdate reactive P. Soils in the drainage path of the affected watershed had significantly higher soil P than adjacent upland samples (P < 0.0001), and higher P than in the control watershed’s drainage path (P = 0.0006). Soil P in the control drain path was modestly higher than in upland samples (P = 0.035). Soil P approached or exceeded levels causing elevated P in runoff water in other studies. Water from the degraded pond also had higher levels of molybdate reactive P than the unaffected pond. Farm managers now avoid lagoon overflows by pumping waste onto a pasture outside the pond’s watershed. We are monitoring the receiving soils to document soil P build-up and to avoid excess P loading in the application area.

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