Sewage treatment plants were not designed to create fertilizer
March 4, 2011 · 9:11 AM
Regarding the story, "Neighbors raise stink over proposed Hansville biosolid program," March 4 NorthKitsapHerald.com:
Sewage treatment plants were not designed to create fertilizer. They are designed to REMOVE all the hazardous and contaminated industrial waste and human pathogens from sewage. These removed pollutants end up, by necessity, in the resulting sludge/biosolids. This is why the federal Clean Water Act defines biosolids as a pollutant.
Growing hay with biosolids is especially risky. For example, two prize-winning Georgia dairy herds were wiped out after the animals ingested forage grown on sludged fields. Not only animals, but rural neighbors have gotten seriously ill from sludge exposure and wells have been impacted. Disposing this toxics-containing waste in double-lined landfills and collecting the resulting methane for energy is much safer than spreading it on our farms and fields.
For accurate information about the risks associated with using biosolids as fertilizer, visit www.sludgefacts.org.
Caroline Snyder Ph.D.
Citizens for Sludge-Free Land
North Sandwich, N.H.
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