Humans are eating more and more these days. Chicken consumption alone has doubled since the 1970s, and now, poultry waste is polluting the water in our region, according to a new report.

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The D.C.-based Pew Environment Group says chicken feces from factories is running into nearby waterways, creating algae blooms and oxygen-deprived dead zones, and that poultry factories should stop cramming cages with chickens if they can't figure out where to put the feces. In response, "Big Chicken" is insisting that chicken waste has tons of nutrients that are good for crops.

Yeah, but too many nutrients aren't good for water, which is why we have these dead zones in the Chesapeake. Pew says Maryland and Delaware together produce roughly 523 million chickens a year, creating an estimated 42 million cubic feet of crap — "enough to fill the U.S. Capitol dome nearly 50 times annually, or almost once a week."

As if the Capitol isn't already full of shit right now.

[via WAMU]