A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 26, 1994
Sinkholes Potential Environmental Threats
Strain Farmers’ Patience, Money
(Continued from Page A 22)
treating sinkholes. These stan
dards and specifications were used
to a great extent to help seal a sink
hole which developed in Clinton
County.
What concerns many is what
happens to the sinkholes after they
form.
“There is a lot of trash that
seems to be getting dumped in
some of these sinkholes,” said
Benton, “such as old pesticide
cans and oil cans and whatever else
that goes into a trash heap. There is
probably a potential there for some
of those that aren’t filled to be a
physical hazard.”
As a result, NRCS put together a
standard and specification for
treating sinkholes. They are based
on drainage area and sinkhole
type. But they are used as a guide,
and can be modified to the existing
site conditions.
Benton assisted in selecting a
large sinkhole for treatment in
Clinton County. The sinkhole
appeared in a diversion.
The site for the sinkhole repair
proved to be a “classic site” for a
video demonstrating how a sink
hole is repaired. That video is
available from the Clinton County
Conservation District office.
Sinkholes can be particularly
troublesome if they occur at a con
struction site. One such sinkhole
opened up on the site of a manure
storage pond under construction.
(More on how the sinkhole was
repaired will appear in the next
article in the series.)
Can potential sinkhole sites be
located beforehand? That proves
difficult, according to Benton,
because of the soil characteristics.
Ground-penetrating radar can
detect some cavernous areas in
sandy soils, but the high clay con
tent common to soils in limestone
areas limits the depth of penetra
tion needed to detect any subsur
face cavities.
Why sinkholes occur
is not always under
stood. “It seems like
everywhere I’ve seen
them, there’s no real
definition as to why they
occured,” said Benton.
Sinkhole formation may
have little or nothing to
do with a drainage area.
Where they will occur is
unpredictable.
Those who build in
potential sinkhole areas
and in Lancaster
County alone, there are
many of them must
remember to use caution
before disturbing or
moving soil. “You’ve
got to be careful
you’ve got to be looking
for those things,’’ said
Benton. “If you’re
working in a limestone
area and you’re digging
below the surface, you
should anticipate you
might run into some of
those problems.”
Remember, sinkholes
are direct conduits to the
water supply of a farm
or a municipality. The
following guidelines
should be used if a sink
hole is discovered:
• Do not pour hazard
ous chemicals into 4
• Do not rinse out containers
that once held hazardous chemi
cals or mix hazardous chemicals
near a sinkhole.
• Do not dump trash into a
sinkhole.
• Do not use sinkholes as outlets
for drainage systems. The nutri
ents carried from crop fields in the
drainage systems can be channeled
direcdy into the groundwater.
Cleaning up a site should remain
a high priority for farmers who
have a sinkhole. But where can a
farmer seek financial assistance?
Neither the Chesapeake Bay
program administered by the con
servation district nor the ACP
program administered by the Agri
cultural Stabilization and Conser
vation Service (ASCS) has cost
share monies available for correct
ing sinkhole problems.
In the case of the Cumberland
County sinkhole that developed at
the site of a manure storage pond,
the farmer had to pay about $ 1,000
for materials and labor.
“We really haven’t got the
financial support to repair sink-
Crop Feed Grains
For Farmer-Owned
LEESPORT (Berks Co.)
“Producers can now place
1994-crop corn, sorghum bar
ley and oats into the farmer
owned reserve (FOR),” said
Richard Troutman, acting
chairman of the Berks Farm
Service Agency (FSA) Com
mittee. “Producers can earn
quarterly storage payments of
26. S cents per bushel for com,
sorghums and barley, and .20
per bushel for oats.”
Producers must file inten
tions to place grain in the
reserve by April 30 at the local
office of the FSA, formerly the
Part 1 Of Sinkhole Series
A sinkhole opened up In this pasture In Columbia County. Sinkholes can pose chal
lenges during cleanup and maintenance, but are repairable.
holes,” said Benton. “That would Editor’s Note: Select farmers charge under a new education
be the real incentive for fanners to in the Lancaster County Mill program. More about that prog
utilize our expertise and Creek Project area can have ram next week in part two of the
experience.” their sinkholes repaired free of sinkhole series.
Eligible
Reserve
Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service (ASCS).
Although filing an intention
does not obligate a producer to
place grain in the reserve, a
nine-month Commodity Credit
Corporation price support loan
agreement must be executed
before the intention is filed.
“Producers may not obtain
the FOR loan until the expira
tion of a nine-month nonre
course price support loan,”
Troutman said. “For further
information, producers should
contact the local FSA office at
the Berks County Ag Center.”
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