Sludge Watch ==> Lynchburg Virginia - Where is all this sludge coming from?

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Weak disclosure leaves many puzzled about biosolids' source

By Blair Goldstein

bgoldstein at newsadvance.com

Saturday, July 29, 2006



Enough biosolids were spread in the Lynchburg area last year to coat more 
than 5,000 football fields - almost all of it shipped from two wastewater 
plants in New Jersey.

One plant, which serves the city of Newark, sent almost all of its treated 
sludge to Bedford and Appomattox counties. The other plant, located about 25 
miles from New York City, delivered about half of the land- applied 
biosolids it produced to the two counties.

In all, Appomattox and Bedford

counties, the only area localities currently receiving biosolids, had about 
27,495 dry tons of out-of-state biosolids spread on 5,491 acres of land last 
year.

No local or state laws require waste-hauling companies to readily disclose 
the source of treated sludge spread on individual tracts of land.

Rather, the companies file reports with the state Department of Health that 
are supposed to identify the tracts of land that have received biosolids, as 
well as the source of the sludge.

Where the sludge is headed, however, is difficult to discern. For example, 
the reports list the tracts that receive biosolids by latitude and 
longitude, not by address - making it hard to tell if one belongs to a 
neighbor.

It also only is available at the Department of Health offices in Richmond 
and is not online. Accessing the information from another location requires 
a specific request and financial compensation for staff time to gather and 
send it out.

Such complicated disclosure can leave local residents, as well as government 
officials, in the dark about where the biosolids are coming from.

Gary Lowry, chairman of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, said he did 
not know where the biosolids spread in his county originated or how to find 
the information.

“States made it legal for them to come in here,” he said. “There’s not too 
much we can do about it.”

“There may be people who have looked into this, but I have not,” said 
Bedford County Supervisor Chuck Neudorfer.

Several Appomattox County supervisors said they are aware that biosolids 
cross state lines on their way to their community. No one interviewed knew 
whom to call to find out specifics.

Most of the local officials interviewed said they would feel more 
comfortable if biosolids spread in their counties came from wastewater 
plants in Virginia instead of sites out of state.

Statewide, 245,502 dry tons of treated sewage sludge were spread last year, 
with about 60 percent of that coming from out of state. Some of the largest 
shipments came from plants in Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

“If you want to use biosolids, then maybe we could get it from Virginia and 
that would be a lot more acceptable,” said Appomattox County Supervisor 
Russell Moore.

“If it would be Virginia, it wouldn’t be as bad,” said Appomattox Supervisor 
Willie Craft. “I think each state ought to take care of their own.”

A small amount of the treated sludge spread in Bedford County last year did 
come from a nearby source. Three Bedford County farmers received 1,308 dry 
tons of biosolids from the Western Virginia Water Authority, which serves 
Roanoke city and county.

Most of the biosolids spread in the area traveled by rail from New Jersey to 
Gladstone, near the border of Appomattox, Amherst, Nelson and Buckingham 
counties.

Last year, Middlesex County (N.J.) Utilities Authority sent the most 
biosolids to the Lynchburg area - about 3,047 dry tons to Appomattox County 
and about 17,482 dry tons to Bedford County.

The shipments comprised about half of the land-applied biosolids the plant 
produced in 2005.

The plant treats wastewater from about 800,000 people in three New Jersey 
counties. About 100 industries and numerous commercial users also feed into 
the plant, including some of the area’s largest employers - Johnson & 
Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Rutgers University.

According to Richard Fitamant, executive director of the Middlesex County 
Utilities Authority, residential users are the primary contributors and all 
industrial waste is pretreated before entering the system.

Every day the plant produces about 500 wet tons of biosolids. About 200 wet 
tons are sent to local landfills as ground cover and between 400 and 450 wet 
tons of biosolids, including a lime additive, are sent out of state.

Fitamant said the plant currently has contracts to send biosolids to New 
Jersey, Virginia and Georgia.

“We utilize our sludge to handle that portion of the cover we need at the 
landfill and we have to find another home for the other sludge,” said 
Fitamant.

The rest of the New Jersey biosolids spread in the Lynchburg area in 2005 
came from a plant administered by a two-county authority called Joint 
Meeting of Essex and Union Counties. The regional wastewater treatment plant 
serves 15 towns in the two counties, including Newark, the largest city in 
the state.

The plant processes about 65 million gallons of wastewater a day and 
produces about 24,000 wet tons of biosolids a year.

Last year, the plant sent almost all of the biosolids to the Lynchburg area, 
shipping about 1,160 dry tons to Appomattox County and about 5,805 dry tons 
to Bedford County.

According to Joseph Bonaccorso, superintendent of the plant, almost all of 
the biosolids that the plant produces are shipped to Virginia. None stay in 
New Jersey.

A spokeswoman for Nutri-Blend Inc., a waste-hauling company, said the 
biosolids that had been slated to arrive on Campbell County land in May 
would have come from a wastewater treatment plant in either New York City or 
Middlesex County. That shipment was halted in response to a neighbor’s 
health concerns.

Bonaccorso said agricultural land in New Jersey does receive some biosolids, 
but most is shipped out of state because the state produces more sludge than 
there is land to absorb it.

The sewage sludge has to go somewhere, and applying biosolids to farm, 
forest and pasture land has emerged as a key way to dispose of it.

This story can be found at: 
http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA/MGArticle/LNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189687301&path=




Jan Pendlebury

NH Global Warming Campaign

NH office-National Environmental Trust

28 S. Main St 3C

Concord, NH 03301

t. 603-224-1955

f. 603-224-0613

janpend at totalnetnh.net

www.net.org