Use of GIS to determine the effect of property line and water buffers on land availability

Animal feeding operations are experiencing increasing pressure from neighbo rs, regulators, and legislative authorities to improve air and water qualit y. One of the most popular tools used in legislation and regulations is the placement of buffers between odor emitting sites and property lines and be tween potential water pollution sources and water bodies. This study was do ne to demonstrate how a GIS system can be used to study the effects of plac ing such buffers around surface water bodies and setbacks from property lin es where confined animal feeding operations and their associated waste appl ication fields would be banned. Data from three counties in southern Georgi a were analyzed to determine how much land would be made unavailable by the placement of various buffers. "Available land" after restrictions ranged f rom 63% of total land for 30.5 m (100 ft) buffers and setbacks, to 7% of to tal land with 152.5 m (500 ft) buffers and setbacks. "Available land" was b ased strictly on the size of properties after restrictions were placed and did not include consideration of whether the property owner was interested in starting an animal feeding operation or selling the land. The possibilit y of combining properties to make larger tracts was also not analyzed. Alth ough it did not provide answers to all questions that need to be asked, the GIS system was demonstrated as a useful tool in obtaining some objective d ata on the cost to society of placing protective buffers.