Sludge Watch ==> City Awash in Sludge - Farmers Stick it to the City

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Stratford Beacon Herald
Ontario, Canada

May 10, 2006 Wednesday


CITY FLUSH WITH SURPLUS SLUDGE;
FARMERS NOT TAKING MUNICIPAL WASTE

BY DONAL O'CONNOR, STAFF REPORTER


With farmers still refusing to accept municipal biosolids on their land, 
Stratford has applied for an emergency order from the Ministry of the 
Environment (MOE) in case incineration of solid waste from the sewage 
treatment plant be-comes necessary at London's treatment facility.
"We've got a few weeks, at least," city engineer George Bower told city 
council Monday. He also cryptically com-mented that city sludge was "going 
elsewhere."

The city, similar to many other municipalities in Ontario, is having to make 
alternative arrangements to get rid of sludge since protesting farmers have 
refused to accept the material on their lands.
On April 17 farmers refused to accept the city's biosolids.

The public works subcommittee was informed Monday that as a result of the 
farmers' action, on-site storage tanks were near capacity and alternative 
measures would have to be explored.
The treatment plant's contingency plan provides several measures when normal 
land application isn't an option.

Contingencies are:

* Use of all on-site storage, including a storage lagoon and two 
1,500-cubic-metre primary clarifiers.
* Offsite storage facilities to supplement on-site storage.
* Delivery to the city of London for incineration.
* Dewatering and disposal at the city landfill.
City engineering officials have met with London officials to consider 
incineration as a long-term contingency plan.

The subcommittee was told incineration will cost an estimated $1,400 per 
tanker load, including delivery, and that the city may have to send a 
minimum of a tanker per day if no other options are available.

Dewatering biosolids and delivering to the city landfill would cost an 
estimated $100,000 annually and would be subject to a minimum treatment 
volume of 4,550 cubic metres and availability of a service provider.

The city is also considering the possibility of spreading the treatment 
plant sludge on city owned land.

The Perth County Federation of Agriculture is one of several agricultural 
federations urging farmers to stop accept-ing municipal sewage sludge on 
their fields as fertilizer -- a practice farmers have so far accepted at no 
charge because of the benefits to agriculture.

The protest action followed the release of the Ontario budget March 23 that 
farmers say failed to meet their demands for a new risk-management plan and 
more government funding for farmers.
The idea started with the Perth federation, which called for the sludge ban 
the day after the delivery of the budget. Farmers in Huron and Oxford are 
among those refusing to accept municipal sludge.

In an interview Tuesday, Perth federation president Bob Martin said that 
while the federal government has appar-ently put up some money, farmers are 
not sure how it's going to "come down the pipe" for a risk-management 
program.

Meanwhile, the federation is continuing to ask farmers not to accept city 
sludge in hopes that it will put pressure on the higher levels of government 
for a long-term plan to assist farmers.

"We thank the farmers that are holding back. Without them it wouldn't work," 
said Mr. Martin.