Sludge Watch ==> Virginia - One farmer decides against sludge use

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

One farmer seeks sludge
By: Monty Tayloe Rappahannock News Staff Writer
09/20/2006

Late last week, Recyc Systems Inc., of Remington, VA officially filed an 
application with the Virginia Department of Health for permits to spread 
biosolids or sludge on land belonging to two Rappahannock County farmers. 
Before a full week had passed, one of those farmers, Alfred Kummli, had 
already informed Recyc that he was not interested in having sludge applied 
to his 400 acre Flint Hill farm, Windsor Lodge.


"This is not what I need to put on my land," said Kummli. According to Susan 
Trumbo , a Vice President with Recyc Systems, the company will go ahead with 
their application on the behalf of the other farmer, James Manwaring of Red 
Oak Ranch. According to County Administrator John McCarthy, VDH will review 
Recyc's application and formally notify the county sometime in the next 
sixty days.

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Alfred Kummli maintains that Recyc's application on his farm's behalf is due 
to a misunderstanding. According to Kummli his farm manager contacted Recyc 
about using sludge as a fertilizer on Windsor Lodge several years ago.

"We were trying to save money. We were spending almost $40,000 a year on 
fertilizer," said Kummli. Recyc Systems didn't proceed on the application at 
the time, possibly due to Virginia's shifting legal climate on the issue. 
According to Kummli, they had not contacted him for a long time before last 
Friday, when they told him that they were proceeding with the application. 
According to Kummli, his views on the land application of sludge have 
changed since his original contact with Recyc, and he no longer sees it as a 
viable fertilizer alternative.

"I told them that we're off, that we're not interested," said Kummli.

In the few days since it was announced by McCarthy that Kummli and Manwaring 
were the applicants to Recyc, Kummli and even some of his acquaintances have 
already faced a negative backlash from some county residents. On the popular 
county electronic mailing list "Rappnet," the prospect of "shunning" for the 
two applicants was even discussed after their names were released.

"It's just out of the blue last week, " said Kummli.

For his part, Red Oak Ranch's James Manwaring remains firm in his decision 
to use treated biosolids as a fertilizer.

"I certainly don't want to alienate people, but I think that biosolids have 
a place in farming," said Manwaring. He became interested in sludge as a 
fertilizer when it was recommended to him by a fellow cattle farmer in a 
neighboring county. Manwaring thinks environmentalists that oppose land 
application of sludge are on the wrong side of the issue.

"Applying sludge to farm land is the best way to handle it. What else are 
{treatment plants] going to do with it? If you burn it, you are hurting the 
ozone layer, if you haul it away you're just putting the problem in someone 
else's yard," said Manwaring.

"What I'd like to see is the county taking responsibility and regulating 
it," said Manwaring, a possibility that many who oppose sludge hauling will 
also support at the October 2 hearing.



On sludge



The land application of sludge has been banned in Rappahannock County since 
1994, but changes to Virginia laws in the intervening years have made that 
ban effectively illegal, and the use of sludge as a fertilizer is a common 
practice in many nearby counties, including Culpeper, Madison, and Fauquier. 
If Recyc Systems' application to spread sludge at Red Oak is granted by the 
VDH, the county would almost certainly lose a court challenge to the ban. 
After a closed session at their September meeting, the Rappahannock County 
Board of Supervisors decided to hold a public hearing on possibly repealing 
the ban on October 2.

Whether referred to as sludge or biosolids, sludge is mostly solid human 
waste left over after the wastewater treatment process. After it has been 
further treated and processed, it can be used as an effective fertilizer. 
It's attractive to farmers because it doesn't cost anything; Sludge haulers 
like Recyc are paid by municipalities to take their sludge away. The sludge 
that would be spread on Red Oak Ranch would come from the Blue Plains 
treatment facility in Maryland, and has its origins in the digestive systems 
of Washington D.C. and its suburbs.

Sludge is unpopular in Rappahannock County largely for environmental 
reasons. Since it comes from the sewage system of an entire city and not 
just residential areas, sludge can contain industrial waste substances, 
heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals. Like any fertilizer, its presence in a 
water shed can imbalance ecosystems and pollute rivers. Virginia regulates 
these concerns through a strict permitting process, which requires testing 
to ensure safety and prohibits high concentrations of certain chemicals in 
loads of sludge. However, Paul Farmer, President of the Rappahannock League 
for Environmental Protection, is not satisfied that the state requirements 
are enough.

"The number of pollutants and potential toxic substances in sludge is 
enormous," said Farmer.

Recyc's Trumbo disputes that Virginia's requirements are not enough, and 
points out that larger facilities like Blue Plains test more frequently than 
smaller plants, are monitored 24 hours a day, and treat such large volumes 
of water that any trace toxins are diluted beyond harm.



The BOS will hold a public hearing to discuss the possible removal of the 
county ban on the land application of sewage sludge on Monday, October 2, 
2006, at 7 p.m. in the Courthouse in Washington, Virginia,

Email the reporter at mtayloe at timespapers.com
http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab4.cfm?newsid=17227092&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506086&rfi=6