Sludge Watch ==> Owen Sound Times - Sludge ban fails

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Terratec has been spreading 3-12% of Toronto sludge on farmfields.  Farmers 
just won't take the stinky heavy metal stuff.  But reporters..like this 
one...keep getting the inaccurate idea that 50% is going to fields.  What 
alot of codswallop.
Someone either at the City or at Terratec must be continuing to put out this 
false info.  Maybe both.

I hear that Terratec is now turning Toronto's dewatered sludge into some 
kind of wet slurry so it
can try to inject the wetted sludge into the soil.  But that puts the 
runnier sludge that much closer to groundwater.

Southgate is a short drive east of Walkerton, Ontario....where 7 people died 
from drinking water contaminated with ecoli 0157 and campylobacter jejeuni.


..............................

Owen Sound Sun Times

Ontario

August 11, 2006



Sludge ban turned down

Don Crosby

Southgate council narrowly decided against an attempt to ban spreading 
sewage sludge on farm fields.
"If they could control the pathogens and get rid of them it would be fine," 
Glen Norman of Cedarville said at a council meeting in Hopeville on 
Wednesday.
A vote on a motion by Coun. Jim Frew to ban spreading sludge in Southgate 
ended in a tie vote, with Coun. Pat Chapman absent due to illness. A tie 
vote is a defeat for a motion.
Before the vote, administrator Don Seim read a caution from the 
municipality's lawyer warning that the spreading of sludge comes under the 
provincial Environmental Protection Act through certificates of approval 
issued to both the supplier and the recipient of the product.
"A certificate of approval is clearly an instrument of legislative authority 
and cannot be overridden at the municipal level," Seim said.

He also cautioned that it would cost about $6,000 to have the bylaw drafted 
and another $50,000 to defend it in court.

"The spreaders will undoubtedly be throwing a lot of legal talent at this 
issue," Seim said.
That argument resonated with Coun. Brian Milne. Although he's opposed to the 
use of sludge as a farm nutrient, he would prefer to spend money on finding 
other ways to change the legislation.
"I'd prefer to try something else. I can't see wasting a lot of money on 
something that is not going to work," said Milne.

Rather than attempt to stop the practice through a bylaw, the municipality 
could create regulatory obstacles that would entangle the sludge spreaders 
in red tape and discourage them from coming here, Kim Love, a spokesperson 
for the Southgate Public Interest Research Group, said in an interview after 
Wednesday's meeting.
"As it stands, the sludge spreaders will go where they meet the least 
resistance. So far, Southgate is in that category," said Love.

About 120,000 tonnes of sewage biosolids are spread on about 5,500 acres of 
Ontario farm fields each year. About 9,000 tonnes ends up in Southgate.
Biosolids is processed human excrement. About 50,000 tonnes is produced at 
Toronto's Ashbridge's Bay sewage treatment plant. Until Aug. 1 the city was 
disposing of its sludge at a Michigan landfill site. But that ended when the 
state legislature, reacting to complaints by residents, closed its borders 
to Canadian sludge.

About half of Toronto's sludge is given to haulers for disposal on farm 
fields. The other half is turned into pelletized fertilizer or incinerated.

Norman said he was surprised by Toronto Mayor David Miller's strong 
opposition to a somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the city's sludge 
be dumped into Lake Ontario. The mayor promised it would never happen on his 
watch claiming it was environmentally dangerous.
"And yet he has absolutely no problem whatsoever letting that same sludge to 
be spread on fields out here," said Norman.

Biosolids from Ashbridge's Bay have been handled by Terratec Environmental 
since 1997. Terratec joined with a global American water company Azurix 
North America, which was formed by Enron in 1998. The company was bought by 
American Water Works in November 2001.
This spring Terratec spread sludge on 192 acres in Southgate 2.5 days. They 
also plan to spread on another 170 acres this fall.

A few years ago the company was fined $15,000 after residents near 
Cedarville complained. They had to remain indoors for several days because 
of a foul odour after biosolids were spread in their area.

Terratec has since developed an applicator that injects the material into 
the soil for use in close proximity to dwell-ings. Sludge has to be at least 
0.9 metres from groundwater sources. No spreading is permitted in a water 
recharge area such as around a municipal well. Soil tests must be performed 
on host sites to determine the amount that can be spread on a farm. Every 
host site receives a visit from MOE staff to review the distance to 
watercourses and residences and setbacks are established.

Love challenged Coun. Ralph Winslade's argument that farmers have the right 
under current legislation to choose bisolids as a form of fertilizer for 
their farms.

"The sludge issue is a great example of where the rights of the individual 
should be superceded by the rights of the larger public. I believe 
emphatically that sludge spreading is not simply about a contract between a 
spreader and a land-owner . . . the impact of sludge-spreading goes well 
beyond the line fence of the owner's property," said Love. "If it impacts 
the health and well-being of the people around you, and the people who will 
follow you, then it is a public in-terest issue."
Frew was disappointed with council's refusal to support his proposal for 
bylaw. He noted that nearby Melancthon Township has a bylaw in place that 
has not been successfully challenged by Terratec. But it has kept sludge 
haulers out.

If elected in the upcoming municipal election in November Frew said he plans 
to re-introduce a similar motion.

"Perhaps with a different council we shall get something done," said Frew.