Although regulators nationally insist the public need not worry about the explosive growth of large livestock facilities where hundreds of animals are confined under a single roof and the manure generated by them gets harder to manage each year, a growing chorus of environmentalists are demanding action.

In the words of Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie founder Mike Ferner, the situation has gotten “totally out of control.”

Mr. Ferner’s group and others were responding Tuesday to a study done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group and the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center, which has satellite offices throughout the Great Lakes region.

EWG and the ELPC came up with what it believes are some eyebrow-raising conclusions after homing in on the sprawling Maumee River watershed, which has gained more attention internationally since nutrient-fed algal blooms made the Toledo area’s tap water unsafe to drink the first weekend of August, 2014.