Sludge Watch ==> Virginia- rules urged to require nutrient management rules for sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Sludge is far more unbalanced as a soil ammendment than is manure.  Sludge, 
in addition to its ballast of chemicals, drugs, and heavy metals is 
unbalanced in its composition of nitrogen and phosphorus.  Generally plants 
need more nitrogen than phosphorus.  Sludge has far more phosphorus relative 
to nitrogen than most plants need.

So if it is applied to meet the nitrogen requirement it overloads the soil 
with phosphorus...phosphorus that can run off and cause algae blooms in 
streams rivers and creeks.

Sludge needs much stricter regulations than manure, since sludge is far more 
unpredictable and contaminatedand dangerous material...and there is a 
financial incentive for over-application.

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

Rules urged to treat sludge like manure

A delegate from the Northern Neck wants the General Assembly to take a 
closer look at how the byproduct is spread on farm fields.
BY PATRICK LYNCH
247-4534
December 29, 2006

Farmers who spread chicken manure as fertilizer have to follow a strict plan 
set up with state officials for the specific needs of their fields.

Farmers who spread sludge, the byproduct of treated human and industrial 
sewage, do not face those same guidelines and rarely face any state 
oversight.

Del. Robert Wittman, R-Westmoreland, would like to change that. Wittman 
plans to introduce legislation in the General Assembly next month that would 
provide guidelines for sludge haulers and farmers. The guidelines would fall 
mostly in line with what other farmers must do to spread animal manure.

Wittman said he has discussed transferring top-level oversight of sludge 
spreading from the Virginia Department of Health to the Department of 
Environmental Quality. In Wittman's concept, the Health Department would 
continue to monitor the science of sludge's human health effects.

"I've always thought that it's kind of ridiculous that if we're really 
serious about managing nutrients that we're not looking at biosolids," said 
Wittman, using another common name for sludge. "It really is a situation of 
treating all nutrients the same, so they're not ending up back in our 
waterways."

Wittman said his legislation could call for many more random inspections at 
sites where sludge was being spread. He might include a role for the 
Department of Conservation and Recreation, which now works with farmers on 
"best practices" plans for keeping the nutrients in fertilizers and manure 
out of waterways.

Sludge spreading has drawn a lot of criticism in recent years in Isle of 
Wight and Surry counties because of its odor and what some people argue are 
unknown environmental and health consequences.

Defenders say it's a safe way to dispose of a byproduct that would otherwise 
end up in a landfill, and farmers say it's a cheap fertilizer and soil 
builder.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-09469sy0dec29,0,5642783.story?coll=dp-news-local-final