Cattle dipping vats are concrete lined pits in the earth, about 3 or 4 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 25 feet long. One end has a sharp drop into the pit, the other end is gently sloped so that the cattle could walk out. From about 1906 to 1961, about 3,500 of these vats were built and filled with strong solutions of arsenic, or later, synthetic pesticides such as DDT and toxaphene. Most of the vats were required to be built by state law in an attempt to eradicate the cattle fever tick, and so release the state from a federal quarantine. State officials supervised the construction and paid for the vats and the chemicals used in them. Recently, the Legislature acknowledged this and released landowners from the environmental liability associated with owning a vat. If you have a vat on your property, or know of one nearby, call your FDEP district office or the FDEP Bureau of Waste Cleanup in Tallahassee at (850) 245-8927. Dipping vats may be a serious environmental hazard to people living or
Cattle dipping vats are concrete lined pits in the earth, about 3 or 4 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 25 feet long. One end has a sharp drop into the pit, the other end is gently sloped so that the cattle could walk out. They were filled with strong solutions of arsenic, or synthetic pesticides such as DDT and toxaphene. From about 1906 to 1961, about 3,500 of these vats were built in an attempt to eradicate the cattle fever tick, and so release the state from a federal quarantine. Most of cattle dip vats were required by state law and state officials supervised and paid for their construction and the chemicals used in them. Dipping vats may be a serious environmental hazard to people living or working nearby. The arsenic and other pesticides may have contaminated the ground water and the soils around the vats, and may put your family at risk if disturbed. Recently, the Legislature acknowledged this and released landowners from the environmental liability associated with owning a vat. If