A watershed-based cumulative risk impact analysis: Environmental vulnerability and impact criteria

Swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have received much att ention in recent years. As a result, a watershed-based screening tool, the Cumulative Risk Index Analysis (CRIA), was developed to assess the cumulati ve impacts of multiple CAFO facilities in a watershed subunit. The CRIA for mula calculates an index number based on: 1) the area of one or more facili ties compared to the area of the watershed subunit, 2) the average of the e nvironmental vulnerability criteria, and 3) the average of the industry-spe cific impact criteria. Each vulnerability or impact criterion is ranked on a 1 to 5 scale, with a low rank indicating low environmental vulnerability or impact and a high rank indicating high environmental vulnerability or im pact. The individual criterion ranks, as well as the total CRIA score, can be used to focus the environmental analysis and facilitate discussions with industry, public, and other stakeholders in the Agency decision-making pro cess.