Treated sewage sludge as fertilizer? Well, if farmers and gardeners use cow and chicken manure then why not use human treated bio-solid waste as fertilizer? This was the general premise behind the formation of a Virginia General Assembly legislative panel to study and determine if treated sewage sludge was safe for use as fertilizer on farms. According to today’s Editorial in the Lynchburg News Advance, this was the intent but again it seems the General Assembly, in their infinite wisdom, didn’t provide enough funding for the study to answer questions about potential affects to water quality, the food chain, and potential human health problems. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, the Budget and Tax Hawks in the General Assembly have a “I should’ve had a V8” moment and fund a comprehensive study and it determines that human bio-solid waste is OK to use as fertilizer, then why do we need to import the remains of someone’s dinner? There are plenty of septic tanks in rural Virginia. Why couldn’t we just recycle our own “natural resources” to make our gardens grow?
Years ago when I was growing up in Southside Hampton Roads, the news covered a barge carrying trash from New York and New Jersey, sailing up and down the East Coast. They were trying to find a place that would take it. Virginia was one of those places they thought would take it. I don’t remember if Virginia did take it, but someone did. The prospect of another Garbage Barge coming from New York and New Jersey, this time in liquid form, and dumping it on Virginia when we don’t even know if it is safe to do is disconcerting. Residence of Campbell County should attend the June 11th DEQ public information meeting about the permit request. Until a comprehensive study is fully funded and completed to determine if treated sewage sludge is safe to use as fertilizer, not one drop should touch Virginia Soil.
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sludge headed to Virginia from New York and New Jersey is contaminated with large quantities of toxic industrial wastes . .
ReplyDeletehttp://www.epa.gov:80/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm EPA TRI state reports - click on "New York" and "New Jersey" - however, remember, the EPA admits that the Toxics Release Inventory lists only about 5% of the toxic chemicals discharged to air, land, water and sewage treatment plants - the OTHER 95% GOES UNREPORTED . . . http://www.ewg.org/reports/dishonorable/ddweb.html
Thanks for the information. The more people know about this the better. This is a classic example of rural interests clashing with the encroaching suburbs. Thanks for the link.
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