Sludge Watch ==> Milwaukee -Sludge - Inadequate regulatory protection for public

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The distribution of Milorganite's  PCB laden sewage sludge soil ammendments 
all over Milwaukee public properties has taught a signal lesson to 
regulators and the public alike.

There is inadequate protection of the public and the environment from sewage 
sludge based materials.

1.  We see that the US 503 sludge regulations and the risk assessments on 
sludge were myopic for refusing to test for PCBs and other toxic compounds 
simply because these materials are no longer in production.  There are 
stockpiles of these and similar toxic materials all over North America. The 
practice of putting landfill leachate into the wastewater treatment plants 
also reintroduces older toxins and poisons into the wastewater/sewage 
stream. Polluters have infinite access to the sewers through every sink, 
toilet, and drain in urban America.

2.  We see that the testing protocols for sewage and Milorganite were 
inadequate. They didn't stop the contaminated material from being applied to 
properties around Milwaukee and possibly further. Now these properties are 
closed to public use and who will bear the cost of remediation.  It should 
be Milorganite - who supposedly make all these profits from distributing 
these sewer based materials- not the public.

3.  The distribution of substandard Milorganite onto public lands bears 
investigation. Since this contaminated material was withheld from 
distribution because it had inadequate nitrogen, why was it spread as 
fertilizer?  It was ineffective as fertilizer.  Why should failed products 
be distributed to schools and parks?  Do we distribute free pens that don't 
write?  Free drugs that don't work?  Free computers that don't work?  Why 
should public lands be the dumping ground for failed fertilizer?  
Contaminated failed fertilizer at that.

This shows us that there can be no SAFE sludge fertilizer.  There are 
hundreds of thousands of chemicals that could be laced into sewers and 
sewage sludge and we have no means to proactively test for them. We have no 
means of understanding their environmental fate one by one. We certainly 
cannot understand their environmental fate in combination.

Milorganite: the grandpappy of  sewage sludge that calls itself 'fertilizer' 
has just contaminated dozens of public properties.  The sewer industry needs 
to face into the wind and stop the practice of putting sludge on farms and 
public lands.

..................................................

Fertilized fields will stay closed while soil testing continues
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist at journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 31, 2007

Thirty recreational properties in Milwaukee County will stay closed because 
of threats posed by contaminated fertilizer, officials said Tuesday.
86974PCBs
Recent Coverage
7/29/07: Tainted fertilizer to carry big bill
7/28/07: Initial soil tests on fields don't find harmful levels of PCBs
7/27/07: Sewers may harbor PCBs
7/26/07: Fertilizer stock dries up
7/25/07: MPS closes 25 athletic fields
7/25/07: Editorial: PCB contamination: A good response so far
7/23/07: EPA to collect park samples
7/20/07: Chemicals in fertilizer shut parts of parks
Advertisement

Buy a link here

Most of the soil samples tested so far have shown no detectable levels of 
polychlorinated biphenyls, an industrial pollutant.

However, a spot near third base at a baseball diamond at Wick Field, at N. 
47th and W. Vliet streets, has shown slightly elevated levels of the banned 
toxic compound, officials said.

State and federal environmental officials said last week that they thought 
some of the affected properties would reopen Tuesday after it was learned 
that sewage-sludge fertilizer containing PCBs had been spread on the 30 
parcels.

Two of the parcels that would possibly reopen were Milwaukee Public Schools' 
Wick Field, and a par-3 golf course and a baseball diamond in Madison Park 
in Wauwatosa.

But after a 1 1/2-hour closed-door meeting, officials with the Milwaukee 
Metropolitan Sewerage District, Department of Natural Resources and 
Milwaukee Health Department said that a laboratory hired by the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency continued to analyze and review 299 samples 
from the 30 recreational sites.

Thus far, 70 of 299 samples have produced preliminary results.

Paul Biedrzycki, manager of disease control and prevention at the Health 
Department, said all parties agreed that the tested samples must be 
rechecked and the work on the other samples completed. But he added that the 
findings posed a "new dimension" to local public health concerns.

Five county properties - Madison, Sheridan, Grant and Kulwicki parks and the 
Root River Parkway-South - were closed July 20 after fertilizer with 
elevated PCBs was discovered.

Then on July 24, 25 MPS properties were also closed. Last Friday, a 
construction site operated by MMSD on the Milwaukee County Grounds also was 
found to have fertilizer with PCBs.

PCBs are believed to be in lower levels in the fertilizer at the school 
properties.

The fertilizer is made from waste collected and processed by the district. 
It had been given away to the county parks department and the School 
District because it contained inadequate levels of nitrogen.

MMSD officials said that PCB particles might have become dislodged from 
sediment in pipes during cleaning.

The sediment might have built up over decades from industries that used the 
products legally until 1977.

The chemical was used as lubricating oil, for papermaking and as a flame 
retardant. Long-term exposure may cause cancer or damage the immune system.

MMSD spokesman Bill Graffin said the district has been cleaning sludge from 
50 miles of sewer pipes in the downtown area since 2000 and found elevated 
PCB levels for only the first time last year.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=641033