Sludge Watch ==> Vintner worried about Prince Edward County Sludge Plans

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

THE TIMES JUNE 21, 2006 Page 8 & 9
Wellington Ontario (east of Toronto on Lake Ontario) Canada

Vintner has worries
County pressing ahead with plan to spread sewage sludge on more farmers’ 
fields near wineries

John Barker
The Wellington Times


Prince Edward County is pressing ahead with plans to spread sewage sludge on 
about 200 acres of farmland in the heart of wine country near Wellington and 
Hillier. Proposed sites will be reviewed for suitability to meet Ministry of 
the Environment requirements, and a notice of intent to apply for a 
certificate of approval for an “organic conditioning site” will be sent to 
all “abutting landowners within 1,000 feet of the parcel boundary.”

The plan is not sitting well with at least one high-profile local vintner. 
Richard Johnston, a former high-profile NDP MPP and social activist from 
Scarborough from 1979 to 1990, along with his partner, psychotherapist Vida 
Zalnieriunas, in 1995 purchased the 215-acre property now known as By 
Chadsey’s Cairns, five kilometres west of Wellington, on County Road 33. The 
first vines went into the soil in 1999.

It’s also not sitting overly well with Seaton McLean, one of the owners of 
Closson Chase Vineyards at 629 Closson Rd. in Hillier. One of the founders 
of Atlantis Films says, “What do I think of the biosolids plan? Well, they 
have to do something with it and I guess spreading it on the land is a 
pretty easy way to go. Would I want them spreading it 1,000 feet from our 
winery? No. Would I scream and shout if they even had the passing thought of 
doing that? Yes …Would any of the other winery owners? For sure.”

McLean goes on to say, “However, this doesn’t appear to be the case and I 
can’t imagine anyone would think that spreading biosolids 1,000 feet away 
from a vineyard would be all that helpful in attracting tourism. So, as long 
as we stay upwind of any such activity I guess I don’t have a huge problem 
with it.”

Johnston says he has two major areas of concern about the sludge dumping 
plan: Compliance with environmental regulations and overall scientific 
safety concerns surrounding polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardant 
PBDEs) and pharmaceutical waste, the former which was found last fall in 
high levels in Picton sludge, the latter in trace amounts.

Most of the sludge would be spread on four non-contiguous fields owned by 
Bob Hunter, according to Public Works documents. Field one is northeast of 
Rosehall, south of Greer Road and west of Hubbs Creek Road at Concession I 
Lakeside in Hillier. Field two lies between Trumpour Road and Danforth Road, 
east of Benway Road at Concession II Lakeside in Hillier. Field three is 
between Trumpour Road and Closson Road at Concession III Lakeside in 
Hillier, while the fourth field Concession II Produced and Irvine Gore in 
Hallowell lies between County Road 1 and Wilson Road.

More broadly, the four fields can be described as south of County Road 1 and 
lying on both the east and west sides of County Road 2.

Sludge from the Picton Water Pollution Control Plant would be spread on 
fields one, two and four, while sludge from the Wellington Waster Water 
Treatment Plant would go on field three as well as a smaller piece of 
property owned by farmer Warren McFaul at Concession II Lakeside in Hillier.

The sites are identified in a May 16 report to the County from Mary Collins, 
an environmental technologist with Lissom Earth Sciences in Picton. The 
County wants to continue dumping sludge on farm fields because “costs for 
land application of liquid biosolids to local farm sites are approximately 
seven times less expensive than dewatering the biosolids and disposal at 
landfill outside of Prince Edward County,” says Matt Tracey, director of 
water and sanitary services, in a May 25 report, approved by council June 
12.

Under its “Biosolids/Sludge Disposal Policy” approved April 10, 2001, the 
site selection protocol can’t be “implemented without pre-consultation of 
council.”

The current budget includes $284,000 for certifying land and disposal costs 
by dewatering and hauling to landfill, but “if the municipality can obtain 
and adequate land base to manage the utilization program, it is realistic to 
expect to save upwards to $175,000 from our 2006 budget,” he says.

The problem for the County right now is that they have an urgent need to 
find new fields to dispose of the sludge. They only have five fields left, 
totalling 170 acres, for disposal. Two of those, making up 82 acres, have 
been loaded to their five-year capacity and two of the remaining three 
fields that have been used this spring won’t be available again until late 
fall, Tracey says, adding that “biosolids utilization as a soil conditioner 
is the most common practice in Ontario today. This process is highly 
regulated, requiring every site to be certified with the Ministry of the 
Environment.” Dumping sludge on farm fields has become common in the last 20 
years. About one-third of all biosolids in Ontario are managed this way. In 
the United States, the figure is about 60 per cent, according to a 2003 
report by KMK Consultants Limited of Brampton and Kansas-based Black & 
Veatch (B & V). Previously, the sludge had been commonly dumped in the ocean 
or other waterways.

Biosolids processing is regulated in the province under the Environmental 
Protection Act and the Nutrient Management Act. According to Guidelines for 
the Utilization of Biosolids and Other Wastes on Agricultural Land, released 
jointly by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of 
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in March 1996, “because of the potential 
for pathogenic organisms in sewage biosolids, there are restrictions on crop 
production for sites receiving this material. The following crops are 
recommended for sites receiving sewage biosolids: field corn; hay and 
haylage; pasture; perennial legumes; soybeans; cereals; tree fruits and 
grapes. When spread on land producing vegetable crops, a 12-month waiting 
period before the next harvest is recommended. Use on home lawns, gardens 
and land used for tobacco production is not recommended.”

Vintner Johnston, of By Chadsey’s Cairns, says his concerns fall under two 
broad headings: “Who is going to police it (the application of the 
biosolids) in terms of compliance?” he asks. “The County? The Ministry of 
the Environment?” It’s one thing to have legislation on the books and quite 
another to enforce it, suggests Johnston, who spent years both in elected 
provincial politics as an MPP from Scarborough West, and throughout the 
1990s lobbying politicians, first as the chair of the Council of Regents, 
the governing body for the province’s colleges, and later as president of 
First Nations Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Territory, which is what 
originally brought him to this area.

The second area of concern is the science surrounding the safety of 
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardant PBDEs) and pharmaceutical 
waste. While the scientific verdict is not complete, there is mounting 
evidence, many scientists believe, suggesting a link between environmental 
PBDEs and neurological disorders in children. As a result, some 
jurisdictions have banned the application of sludge on farm fields on that 
basis. “Why would we want to take any risk?” Johnston asks. “What is 
acceptable risk? Myself, as I age, I’m less willing to take those risks when 
it comes to biological risk factors.”

Johnston, as a vintner, says from a business point of view, the idea of 
spreading sludge on nearby farm fields is not likely to have much appeal for 
either vineyard owners or tourists. Field one, as proposed, runs behind By 
Chadsey’s Cairns and, Johnston says, he worries about runoff sludge 
migrating into Hubbs Creek, which in turn flows into Hucycks Bay. The Lissom 
map outlines a 100-metre setback from the watercourse, but Johnston says 
what looks like one thing on paper may be different in reality. “Who is 
going to monitor it?”

There were less than 20 acres under vine in the County and one winery in 
1999. Today, there are a dozen wineries. Johnston says for his money, 
spreading sludge is an odd way to enhance tourism at this point if the 
County’s strategy is to indeed get visitors to stay longer and spend more. 
“Unlike Niagara (wine region),” which has all kinds of urban blight around 
it, Johnston says, “the County is still unspoiled. Do we want to ruin that?” 
Some are predicting within the next four years Prince Edward County will 
move past both Pelee Island and the north shore of Lake Erie to become the 
second-largest viticulture area in Ontario, after Niagara. Still, Johnston 
says he expects there may be a reluctance to speak out on the sludge issue 
by his fellow vintners, as the winery and vineyard owners are still seen by 
some as the “new kids on the block,” having arrived on the local 
agricultural scene in the last seven years.

“No one wants to be seen as saying anything negative about agriculture in 
the County,” says Johnston. “We all know how hard a time farmers are having. 
They’re our neighbours.”

Johnston says it’s important to ask the right questions if you want to get 
the right answers. As a former politician, Johnston knows that it’s how you 
frame the debate that matters. If looked at from the narrowest economic 
perspective of sludge disposal costs, as Johnston says the County appears to 
be doing, then it makes straight-forward bottom line economic sense to 
spread sludge on farm fields.

But if you worry about the deferred costs of possible long-term health 
impacts from exposure to environmental polybrominated diphenyl ethers 
(PBDEs) and what spreading sludge on nearby farm fields in the heart of the 
County’s wine country, centered just west of Wellington, might mean for 
tourism, the economic calculus may well change, Johnston says.