Sludge Watch ==> Kern Sludge Farmers Violate Regs - Fail to Provide Tests for Class A Sludge

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin
There is an excellent 5 minute video with this story:


Video:
>From L.A. to Kern: Follow that sludge (4:30)
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/55037.html

See more comments after the story....
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http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/55037.html

Some sludge protocols not met

BY SARAH RUBY AND GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writers
e-mail: sruby at bakersfield.com
e-mail: gwenner at bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 2 2006 8:50 PM

Despite signed declarations to the contrary, at least one local sludge 
farmer hasn't submitted monthly tests showing on-site treatment killed 
bacteria, viruses and worms before workers spread the sludge on Kern 
farmland.

The tests are required under a federal law that sets standards for so-called 
"Class A" sludge -- treated human and industrial sewage used as fertilizer.

With much of Southern California's sewage sludge shipped to Kern for 
disposal, some local farmers, soil scientists and residents already worry 
about sludge's unknowns. Tens of thousands of industrial chemicals combine 
with heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and human waste, they say, creating a 
potentially toxic brew that varies with each load trucked over the 
Grapevine.

Kern residents will vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would end the 
practice on unincorporated land here.

Sludge testing is supposed to show that what ends up on the ground is safe. 
Its handlers sample for heavy metals, a few toxic compounds and pathogens.

No one knows if sludge at Honey Bucket Farms, one of Kern's two remaining 
imported sludge farms, meets the federal standard for viruses, bacteria and 
worms because it doesn't submit monthly tests to the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency. It also fails to meet certain other testing protocols, 
which call for testing before sludge is treated, said Lauren Fondahl, sewage 
sludge coordinator for the agency's regional office in San Francisco.

Honey Bucket Farms does submit quarterly results, all of which meet the 
EPA's standards for pathogen kill, Fondahl said. Without monthly testing, 
the sludge can't be certified as Class A -- a must for all sludge spreading 
operations in Kern.

The testing discrepancy surprised county officials, who thought the EPA was 
making sure sludge at Honey Bucket Farms merited Class A status.

"It was our assumption they were meeting the requirements set out" in 
federal regulations, said Matt Constantine, director of the county's 
Environmental Health Department.

Kern doesn't require sludge operators to fulfill all of EPA's Class A rules, 
Constantine said. Local sludge handlers must test quarterly, not monthly, he 
said. The county also requires a few tests of its own.

The federal agency has no vested interest in whether local sludge meets 
Class A or lesser requirements. That's up to the county, Fondahl said.

But since Honey Bucket's owner signed statements verifying sludge on his 
north Kern farm met federal Class A requirements, EPA officials are 
evaluating whether they need to track down additional paperwork, Fondahl 
said.

"It's not the same level of priority as somebody who's actually exceeding a 
pollutant limit," she said.

Shaen Magan, the sludge farmer, said he was "unfamiliar" with the monthly 
testing requirement. He signed a declaration in February guaranteeing "under 
penalty of law" he'd followed federal guidelines for "Class A."

A spokesman for his biggest customer, the Orange County Sanitation District, 
said Magan follows Kern's testing rules, and county officials have always 
been OK with his procedures.

"We will gladly comply with whatever requirements they deem fit," said Layne 
Baroldi, legal affairs liaison for Orange County Sanitation District. "We 
have been doing this since 2003 and Kern County has been satisfied it meets 
... their ordinance."

The Orange County district sends more than 80,000 wet tons of sewage sludge 
to Kern for disposal each year.

Two farms, Honey Bucket and the city of Los Angeles' Green Acres, spread 
more than 420,000 wet tons of sludge on fewer than 10,000 acres last year. 
County officials shut down Kern's third sludge farm in February after the 
state found its operator, U.S.A. Transport Inc., had stockpiled more than 
70,000 tons of hazardous waste near Wasco. The farm, owned by the city of 
Oxnard, also failed to meet certain testing protocols for "Class A," EPA's 
Fondahl said.

On Tuesday, locals will decide whether to ban sludge spreading here. Measure 
E is widely expected to pass, although it's unlikely to be the final word on 
sludge in Kern. Sanitation districts and sludge farm operators have pledged 
to fight the ban in court. If unsuccessful, they'll have six months to find 
another place for their treated waste.

Story so far

• 1987 — Sanitation districts are forced to stop dumping treated sewage into 
the ocean; many start hauling concentrated waste to Kern for use as 
fertilizer. • 1999 — After years of complaints and controversy, county 
supervisors ban all but the most highly treated sludge starting in January 
2003. • 2004-05 — Farmers and water officials raise concerns about the 
safety of spreading sludge on cropland; state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter 
and other leaders launch a campaign to ban sludge by referendum • 2006 — 
Kern residents to vote on the sludge ban Tuesday


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Sludgewatch Admin

What is very odd is that many of the companies that are processing sewage 
sludge
in Kern County are failing to follow the recognized main line processes to 
reduce pathogens...that is say they don't meet the full EPA approved Class A 
'recipe' to heat treat sludge or to lime stabilize sludge...as set out in 
the 503 regulations below:

http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/pubs/625r92013/625R92013appB.pdf


Instead, places like  Honeybucket Farms (Tule Ranch) and USA Transport and 
Los Angeles at Green Acres don't meet the lime stabilization or extended 
heat digestion requirements of the 503 regs and instead rely on proving that 
each batch of sludge achieves indicator pathogen kill by testing the 
incoming sludge then processing it to 'Class A' and then confirming the 
pathogen kill with another round of testing.  They say they are following 
Alternative 3.

  Only they apparently failed to conduct and/or failed to submit the 
required testing, even though they swore under penalty of imprisonment that 
they followed all the Class A Alternative  3 pathogen reduction testing 
requirements.



Alternative 3 says you have to test the sludge before and after you process 
it.  And big operations like these ones have to provide both before and 
after testing at least once a month to meet the Class A requirements.  
Again, these companies simply didn't.  Despite Kern County's sludge 
concerns, and despite their Sludge Ordinance,  apparently, these three 
sludgers  failed to provide the required pretests.  Some of them failed to 
provide much in the way of after treatment testing either.

Have they  provided the required documentation to meet their sworn 
obligation to provide the necessary testing to fulfill the requirements of 
Class A under the Federal 503s?

The obligation under the certification statement reads:

    I certify, under penalty of law, that the information that will be
used to determine compliance with the Class A pathogen requirements in
Sec. 503.32(a) and the vector attraction reduction requirement in
(insert one of the vector attraction reduction requirements in
Sec. 503.33(b)(1) through (b)(8)) was prepared under my direction and
supervision in accordance with the system designed to ensure that
qualified personnel properly gather and evaluate this information. I am
aware that there are significant penalties for false certification
including the possibility of fine and imprisonment.


Why is the EPA not taking enforcement action?  Why is the EPA saying that it 
is up to Kern County  to enforce the Federal 503 regs when a sludge company 
affirms to both the EPA and to Kern that they are processing sludge to Class 
A and fails to conduct or  submit the required tests?

There are ‘significant penalties for false certification’.  Bring them on.