Focus on animal waste treatment for odor and phosphorus control has small farmers in a quandary. Sophisticated systems for manure dewatering and treatment involving centrifuges, screw presses, belt presses, dissolved air floatation units, and other devices common in municipal sludge dewatering are well beyond the capital and O&M affordability of the smaller operation. Further the level of operation expertise required is not usually available in the workforce at hand forcing the dairy or swine operator to do it themselves or go outside the normal workforce and hire more expensive skills. New technologies coming out of the academic think tanks exploring alternatives in animal waste treatment appear out of the reach of even the largest operations. Innovations utilizing geosynthetic materials in common use in bank and beach erosion, industrial and municipal waste dewatering, and soil stabilization provide a lower cost low maintenance alternative for the smaller livestock operation. The drainage vessel, a tube into which manure is pumped, allows free drainage of water from the waste while retaining solids for further treatment or disposal. Chemical precipitants and flocculent added to the waste as the tube is filling have resulted in phosphorus removal efficiencies greater than ninety percent (>90%) for $5-$10/day in chemical costs. Application technology and case studies will be presented.