Sludge Watch ==> Southgate 0ntario - Spreading sludge in area where drinking water comes from

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

It doesn't make sense to spread pathogenic wastes on the headwaters of your 
drinking water resources.  It doesn't make sense from a watershed protection 
planning perspective.


The Township of Southgate (nearish to Walkerton, about an hour and a half 
drive north west of Toronto) need not pass a bylaw 'prohibiting' biosolids, 
as that may attract litigation suggesting they are usurping Provincial waste 
mandate (not that the Province has done much of any value with that 
mandate).  Any municipality in Ontario has the right to pass such bylaws 
(like a municipal 'ordinance' for you American readers) as they see fit to 
secure the well-being of their residents.

So the Township of Southgate could set some additional requirements -  
neighbour notification, hours of operation (maybe - no spreading outside of 
business hours), signage,on sludge spread fields before and after spreading, 
  tests for determination of groundwater or aquifer vulnerability, odour 
testing and analysis of sludge prior to disposal, no off-loading from the 
county roadways (trucks must leave the road to unload sludge),   Indeed, a 
report done for the Ottawa Medical Officer of Health outlined a long list of 
additional requirements that would be prudent in the management of sludge, 
just from a public health perspective.

Ottawa never implemented these recommendations...they just stopped land 
application altogether for a number of years.  Maybe Southgate should take 
up these protective measures...to provide their residents with additional 
protections.

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




Ontario, Canada

Owen Sound Sun Times

July 20, 2006

Biosolids being spread in area where drinking water comes from


Editor:


Re: Biosolids in the Township of Southgate:

At the council meeting on July 12, Southgate council received legal advice, 
that a bylaw prohibiting the spreading of biosolids would be difficult and 
expensive, if not impossible to enforce, because the Municipal Act appears 
to give the power to regulate bio- solids to the province.

It became known at this council meeting that bio-solids from Mount Forest, 
Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and possibly other municipalities were finding 
their way onto fields in the former Proton Township, now a part of the 
Township of Southgate.

In the best of worlds, bio-solids would be just that - biological waste, 
with most of the water removed. As such it would be a normal, organic 
fertilizer.

However, we do not live in a perfect world, and many harmful chemicals, 
heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and other hazardous wastes end up in the 
liquid waste streams of our cities.

These facts are well known by, but not willingly divulged, by the only 
agency with the mandate to control these unwanted and hazardous bio-solid 
ingredients, namely the Ministry of the Environment.

Why these biosolids end up in Southgate is mysterious, because the trucks 
bringing them are passing by many miles of fields much closer to their 
origins.

I asked the Southgate environmental manager for a copy of the test results 
conducted on the biosolids prior to their being spread on our fields. 
Southgate does not have any test results. It is however, a well-known fact 
that independent tests conducted on biosolids  from the larger cities 
contain a plethora of harmful contaminants.

It is appropriate at this point to remember that the former Proton Township 
is part of the Dundalk Highlands. It is a very wet township, and is the 
highest point in Ontario.

Many of the Southern Ontario rivers spring in this region. And in an ironic 
twist, the very people who are sending us these goodies will end up getting 
them back in their drinking water.

It is a sad comment on the impotence of our provincial government, that they 
on one hand promote and legislate for the protection of drinking water at 
source, and then order the very municipalities that are the source of our 
drinking water to accept hazardous compounds for spreading on their fields.

This situation proves beyond doubt that the right hand at Queen's Park does 
not know what the left hand is doing.

Karl Braeker

Durham