Sludge Watch ==> Could the E. coli outbreak be linked to irrigation practices?

[Maureen Reilly]

>From the October 2006 Idaho Observer:


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Could the E. coli outbreak be linked to irrigation practices?


When the U.S. government responded to the raw spinach-induced E.coli 
outbreak last September by ordering all raw spinach pulled from shelves, 
most saw it as an overreaction. Logic tells us that the spinach was either 
grown in an E. coli-contaminated environment or was contaminated with E.coli 
during harvest or processing. So which was it? The government agencies who 
so militantly (quickly and efficiently) removed all traces of raw spinach 
from the marketplace have yet to provide us with a satisfactory answer—or 
even an intelligent guess—as to how it’s level of contamination would 
justify such extreme measures. That seems to happen most commonly when 
government is attempting to maintain the appearance of serving in the public 
interest while protecting special corporate interests. So why the 
overreaction in the case of E. coli spinach? While government publicly 
maintains the position that the use of "recycled" water from sewage 
treatment plants is safe, government documents indicate that safety, at 
best, cannot be assured.

by Kathryn Price

We have watched the evening news as story after story of incidents related 
to the E. coli outbreak is told. Many are ill while others die after 
consuming tainted leafy greens.

What is E. coli? According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 
Escherichia coli, a.k.a. E. coli, is "a subgroup of fecal coliform bacteria 
that is present in the intestinal tracts and feces of warm-blooded animals. 
It is used as an indicator of the potential presence of pathogens. There are 
many different strains of E. coli that are classified into more than 170 
serogroups. Although most strains of E. coli are harmless and live in the 
intestines of healthy humans and animals, the E. coli O157:H7 strain 
produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness."

The "investigation" begins

Here is what is known. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, September 
18, 2006, "…federal authorities announced they will investigate farms in 
Salinas Valley seeking evidence of what caused the outbreak."

The article goes on to quote Dr. David Acheson of the FDA saying, "Acheson, 
who called the outbreak one of the larger E. coli outbreaks ever reported, 
extended indefinitely the federal recommendation not to eat any fresh 
spinach or products that contain or are packaged with spinach that have a 
sell-by date of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1.

The recommendation has brought the spinach harvest to a standstill in the 
Salinas Valley, according to Joe Pezzini, chairman of the Central California 
Grower-Shipper Association and vice president of operations at Ocean Mist 
Farms in Castroville.

Ocean Mist doesn’t supply spinach to Natural Selection Foods, one of the 
first producers tied to the outbreak, but Pezzini said the government 
warning affected all growers….

Acheson said all the farms that agents will visit today in connection with 
the outbreak are in the Salinas Valley, which produces much of the nation’s 
lettuce and spinach. Authorities are continuing to investigate whether other 
companies and brands are involved."

Enter CSIP

Frank Pecarich, a retired soil scientist in Ventura, California writes that 
Monterey County, California "implemented what is called the Castroville 
Seawater Intrusion Project which, in short, mixes 66% tertiary level treated 
sewage effluent with 33% potable water. This was done under the auspices of 
the Monterey County Water Resource Agency and cost $78 million.

"In brief, this project supplies 13,000 acre/feet of treated sewage effluent 
wastewater annually to approximately 12,000 acres of cropland through 46 
miles of pipeline to irrigate agricultural fields overlying the seawater 
intruded aquifer. The crops that are irrigated include spinach and lettuce."

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 
(FAO), the "Monterey Wastewater Reclamation Study for Agriculture (MWRSA) 
was a 10 year, US $7.2 million field-scale project designed to evaluate the 
safety and feasibility of irrigating food crops (many eaten raw) with 
reclaimed municipal wastewater (Sheikh et al. 1990). Demonstration fields at 
Castroville in the lower Salinas Valley, California, were used to study 
full-scale farm practices using reclaimed municipal wastewater. Two 5 
hectare experimental plots provided large amounts of data on crop response 
which were subjected to statistical analysis. On one plot artichokes were 
grown, while on the other a succession of broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and 
celery was raised over a 5-year period starting in late 1980."

Definitions:

• Potable Water: Water that is safe for human consumption.

• Municipal Wastewater: Discharge of effluent from wastewater treatment 
plants which receive wastewater from households, commercial establishments, 
and industries. Combined sewer/separate storm overflows are included in this 
category.

• Effluent: Liquid waste, often from a factory or sewer. This is a term that 
is often used to refer to the urine and manure that is pumped into or out of 
a lagoon.

• Reclaimed Water: Wastewater (sewage) that has been treated and purified 
for reuse, rather than discharged into a body of water. It is frequently 
used to irrigate golf courses and parks, fill decorative fountains, and 
fight fires. It can also be used to irrigate crops, as long as they will be 
peeled or boiled before human consumption.

• Pathogenic: Capable of causing disease; harmful; any disease-causing 
agent.

Just like washing clothes

According to the last definition, food irrigated with reclaimed water should 
not be eaten raw. It appears the U.S. citizen is the laboratory rat.

In January, 2002, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District was quoted as 
saying, "One of the wisest uses of water is to give it a second chance to 
use it again after it is flushed down the drain at our homes and businesses. 
This process is called recycling wastewater, or water recycling. It’s a lot 
like cleaning and reusing your clothes when they get dirty."

Carlsbad Municipal Water District is wrong. It is nothing like cleaning and 
reusing your clothes since your clothing does not usually have urine, feces, 
oil, gas, road kill and other contaminants found on them. Also, we do not 
ingest our clothing as we do the produce irrigated with recycled wastewater 
opening the door for plant tissue to harbor harmful, and potentially lethal, 
organisms.

Outstripped supplies

Why would we use potentially harmful methods of irrigation for our nations 
food supply? According to the USDA, Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) 
Research Project: Groundwater Recharge and Wastewater Irrigation to Protect 
Crops and Groundwater, a 2005 Annual Report, it is stated that, "Water 
demands in the western U.S. currently exceed available supplies. Population 
growth and water shortages will increase the need to use treated wastewater 
effluent for irrigation, particularly in areas where fresh water resources 
are limited. The use of recycled water for municipal and crop irrigation 
will reduce groundwater pumping, which currently provides 37% of water for 
agricultural use and is the largest user of groundwater nationwide."

Perhaps population explosions in the west are a direct result of the current 
illegal alien issue; another topic for another time. Nevertheless, this 
problem could be corrected if so desired by the powers that be.

Who are the most vulnerable of getting E. coli?

According to the EPA website, "Children under the age of five, the elderly, 
and people whose health is weakened (i.e., people who have long-term 
illnesses such as cancer or AIDS) are at greater risk of severe illness."

The most shocking realization during the gathering of information regarding 
this topic is how much the USDA understood was at risk. The USDA ARS 2005 
Annual Report goes on to say, "Using present technologies, municipal 
wastewater treatment may not completely disinfect recycled irrigation 
waters, allowing pathogenic microbial populations to re-grow in water 
storage and transmission systems. As a result, recycled water used for 
agricultural and municipal irrigation can contain enough pathogenic 
organisms to threaten human health once released into the environment. 
Moreover, little is known about the long-term environmental fate of 
synthetic organic compounds, including pharmaceutically active chemicals and 
disinfection byproducts, contained in recycled wastewater. Overall, the 
environmental and public health impacts of irrigation with reclaimed sewage 
effluent and the potential degradation of underlying groundwater are largely 
unknown." [emphasis added]

Some of the USDA ARS objectives found in the same report include:

Objective 1: Develop methods for improved environmental detection of 
contaminants and pathogens using field studies in areas with a history of 
wastewater application.

Objective 2: Determine the environmental fate and transport of contaminants 
and pathogens using focused studies in agricultural fields, municipal 
irrigated areas (golf courses, parks), and/or groundwater recharge areas 
with a long history of municipal wastewater application.

Objective 3: Examine novel methods to control bacterial growth and chemical 
transport in conveyance systems using laboratory reactor studies, to aid in 
development of management strategies to minimize environmental impacts of 
using treated effluent for irrigation. *This research directly addresses the 
national and global problem of food safety in agricultural areas that have 
been irrigated with sewage effluent or with effluent contaminated water. The 
research also addresses issues of water conservation and integrated water 
management through water reuse. These issues now occur or are emerging in 
many parts of the U.S. and the rest of the world wherever there is 
insufficient water to meet competing demands for municipal, industrial, and 
agricultural irrigation. All objectives fall under National Program 201, 
Water Quality and Management. By addressing water conservation and 
integrated water management through water reuse, Objectives 1 and 2 fall 
under Problem Area 2.5 (Waste Water Reuse), Goal 2.5.3 (Waste Water 
Standards). Objective 3 addresses Problem Area 2.3 (Water Conservation 
Management), Goal 2.3.1 (Water Conservation Technologies)."

Bingo

The most damning evidence against the USDA ARS is their admittance of 
possible harmful effects of using recycled wastewater to irrigate our 
produce. Section 5 of the report says, "Microbiological work in the earlier 
projects included a laboratory study to assess the survival and re-growth 
potential of bacteria present in tertiary-treated effluent as it passed 
through a model distribution system. The results demonstrated that 
population numbers of indicator bacterial organisms increased by three to 
four orders of magnitude over the 11-day length of the experiment. This 
research established that although the reclaimed water met EPA standards for 
irrigation at the treatment plant, there is great potential for bacterial 
re-growth during transport that could place the water out of compliance at 
the point of intended use. This work illustrated the critical need to 
understand the environmental fate of microorganisms and the potential for 
bacterial re-growth in reclaimed water used for crop irrigation so that 
future problems of food and groundwater contamination via wastewater 
irrigation can be prevented." [emphasis added]

Concluding thoughts

It appears the USDA does not know what the long term effects will be using 
recycled wastewater on crops or humans who consume their harvests making all 
of us who shop in our local grocery store their guinea pigs.

Armed with the knowledge above, is it possible the tainted flesh of 
California produce in the Salinas Valley is a result of the poor decision to 
use recycled wastewater effluent to irrigate the nation’s food supply? I 
will be thinking twice before serving my children leafy greens grown in 
California. Be sure to check your own community’s irrigation practices 
before consuming its raw produce.



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The Idaho Observer
P.O. Box 457Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869

http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20061015.htm