Sludge Watch ==> Hamilton Councilors vote for enviro friendly sludge burning

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The City of Hamilton Ontario has been looking at their sludge disposal and 
decided that since this industrial town sludge is high in heavy metals 
(selenium) and their air emissions from land application are not 
Kyoto-friendly they would do better to take a thermal solution to sludge.

There is already a state of the art energy-from-sludge facility proposed in 
Hamilton. The City of Hamilton wastewater staff are going to conduct a peer 
reviewed analysis of their options.

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New sludge plant on the docket
Aug, 08 2007 - 4:00 PM

HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - Hamilton city council has approved a plan to build a 
60-million dollar incinerator to burn sewage sludge.

Public Works employees say burning the sludge would be cheaper and more 
environmentally-friendly than trucking it to area farms to be spread as 
fertilizer.

That's what the city has done since their old incinerator was shut down in 
1996.

However, council has asked city staff to provide a peer reviewed analysis of 
other local options that might be better.

One such option would be a privately funded Liberty Energy project planned 
for Stathearne Avenue north of Burlington.

The company wants to a build a facility that would also generate electricity 
to power eight thosand homes.

http://www.900chml.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428436912&rem=71850&red=80143623aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm

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Hamilton considers burning sewage sludge

Canadian Press

August 8, 2007 at 5:49 AM EDT

HAMILTON — Hamilton city staff say they will ask council for approval to 
build a $60 million incinerator to burn sewage sludge.

Public works employees say burning the sludge would be cheaper and more 
environmentally-friendly than trucking it to area farms to be spread as 
fertilizer.

That's what the city has done since their old incinerator was shut down in 
1996.

Jim Harnum, senior director of water and wastewater, says the sludge is 
contaminated by the heavy metal selenium, which is restricted to a certain 
amount in soil under a new provincial act.

The city now generates more than a thousand truckloads of sludge a year, an 
amount expected to increase as sewage treatment improves and population 
grows.

Mr. Harnum says by taking trucks off the road, greenhouse gas emissions will 
be cut by 90 per cent, but burning sludge will add to emissions contributing 
to smog and acid rain. (Admin: the land application of sludge also causes 
smog and air emissions, 100% mercury emissions, water contamination, 
dispersion of drugs and pharmaceuticals onto the food chain, food safety 
issues, and heavy metal toxification of soils, wildlife exposure...etc).

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070808.wsludgeburn0808/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070808.wsludgeburn0808