Dye Tracing a Hog Farm Waste Lagoon Near Frankin, Kentucky. A Hydrological Survey.

By Chris Kozloski

The purpose of this hydrological survey is to determine the route of flow of hog waste from a suspected leak in the secondary waste lagoon for a hog farm located just NW of Hickory Flat Ky. The project is in response to a complaint by an adjacent landowner who suspects the contamination of his water supply, citing odor and occasional solids from a spring on his property. The survey is being conducted by the Center for Cave and Karst Studies at Western Kentucky University, headed by Dr Nicholas Crawford. The survey area is located approximately 5 miles east of Franklin Kentucky, down State Route 100, on the NE corner of the Hickory Flat Quadrangle and is bounded to the south by State Rt 100, to the West by Lick Creek, to the north by State Route 265 and to the east by State Route 262.

Geology

The area of the survey is a limestone karst landscape formed in the Upper Missipian St. Louis Limestone. The bedrock is an detrital limestone containing beds of nodular and sheet chert. These chert layers exhibit a strong hydrological influence on the groundwater flow paths of the aquifer by acting as a confining layer. The evidence for this can be found geomorphology of the landscape. The chert layers intersect the surface where Rt 100 crosses Lick Creek. South of this location the landscape is non Karstic, exhibiting a Dendritic drainage pattern of surface streams. North of the contact however the surface tributaries disappear as Karst conditions commence leaving only the base level Lick Creek and large springs.

Structurally the region is located on the western limb of the Cincinatti Arch. Concequently, the strata takes a shallow dip to the Northwest. A small basin occurs in the study area as indicated on the Geologic Quadrangle. The majority of this basin occurs on the west side of Lick Creek which is out of our study area. However a large spring enters the creek from the west (The actual headwater spring of Lick Creek) at the bottom of this basin which could be indicative of subsurface flow downdip of the strata (As occurs at Mammoth cave). The dip for the rest of the study area is to the west towards the basin in the southern section, and to the northwest throughout the remainder.

Springs Sinks & Wells

There are 3 main springs of importance on the eastern side of Lick creek in the study area. The first of these is the Vetrenarians spring where the initial problems with the farms ponds was reported. (#??-You have that Data) {Note : My professer held the field data for these springs}. The Second is Spring #10, which is the largest since the headwater spring and a major tributary as evidenced by its discharge. The final of these 3 Springs is the Herrmann spring (#12) which is located just south of the State Rt 265 crossing of Lick Creek. This large spring probably drains the northern half of the study area. Due to its location downstream of the hog farm, with spring #10 between it, it probably drains a different groundwater basin than the one the hog farm is located.

In addition to these 3 springs there are many smaller ones in the study area. Upstream of the headwater spring, the springs are mainly small seeps (probably flowing due to heavy rainfall just before the survey) although a significant spring occurs just before the culvert of State Route 100. There are 10 springs and seeps between the culvert and Spring. #10.

Finally there are 2 more features of interest. A Karst Window on State Rt. 262 Holds Spring #11 which discharges a significant ammount of water that flows 100 feet into a swallet that drains west towards the creek. The only 2 springs that equal this flow are spring #10 and Herrmann Spring #12. The second feature is Springs #13 and #14 (The former of which flows year round) which flow 100 yards into a swallet. These springs could possibly be a resurfacing of spring #11's water. The swallet more than likely drains into Herrmann spring (#12) and flows past a large sinkhole where flowing water can be heard through a cave in the drain.

Landowners

This is a listing of the landowners who own property within the area of study. The letters correspond with the locations listed on the landowner map included with this paper.

A:Mr Arney
Father of John Arney (L&M) He owns the two barns at the start of the road to (The Veternarian's) house. There is a well there but they cant remember its location.
B:Charles Laney
(Forgot to get address)
502-586-1743
Mr. Laney would like to assist in any way he can with the trace. He requests thay you give him a call if you need any assistance. He also states he might be able to obtain 2000 galons of water to use in the dye flush.
C: Bobby Philips
D: Mrs Allen (Forgot to get Adress)
Well #2 at this location.
E: Mr. Meador
F: Henry Wheeler
G: Bob Huber
H: Eddy Cherry
(Forgot to get adress)
Mr Cherry has a small spring that runs across his property. The Spring is on Joe Richards property (K) but is closer to Mr Cherrys house if we can visit it. (We received permission from both landowners) The stream flows to a swallet on Mr Cherrys property.
I: Mr Crawford
J: Scott Kelly
K: Joe Richards
4474 Gold City Rd (Rt 265)
Franklin Ky
502-586-7220
Mr Richards owns the spring that flows onto Mr Cherrys property. He has given us permission to cross his property to examine it.
L: John Arney
(dont have adress for this residence but see listing "M")
There is a karst window at this property. (Spring #11)
M: John Arney
416 hickory Flat Rd
Franklin Ky
502-586-0132
Mr Arney was very helpful in giving us landowner names. (Most are from him.) Well #1 is located on his property. He also owns or is related to the owner of the land with the karst window (Spring #11) Mr Arney an Mr Laney both would like to assist with the Dye trace as much as possible and request we contact them if we need any help.

Dye Trace

Due to persistant lawyer and landowner problems the running of the dye trace has been delayed indefinately. Therefore I have decided to turn in this paper with what has been done so far, before my incomplete grace period runs out. I am anxious to find out where this hog farm waste goes, and even more to see what the route of the karst windows water is. If this project ever picks up again please give me a holler and I will be more than happy to continue this report. This concludes my report on the hydrological survey of the study area.

Note: Curse all lawyers! From what I understand, the project ended when the prosecuting lawyer decided he wasnt going to share the results of the dye trace with the defending lawyer - who propmtly shut the trace down (Can't blame him). The last I heard, the dye trace still hasn't been done.

There is a map to be included with this paper as soon as I can get it scanned.

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