Sludge Watch ==> Milwaukee : Tainted sludge piles up

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This story shows how very dangerous it is to use sewage sludge for 
'fertilizer' and how very very inadequate the regulatory requirements are.  
This was supposedly 'Class A Exceptional Quality Sludge'.  Clearly this is a 
meaningless phrase, since no regulations stopped the spreading of this 
material on countless parks and school fields.


"The 1,628 tons contaminated with 50 parts per million or more of PCBs are 
considered toxic waste under federal law. "

"Even though federal regulations allow sewage sludge fertilizer to be spread 
on soil if it contains less than 10 ppm of PCBs, the EPA has ordered the 
district to remove soil with a tenth of that concentration."


Original Story URL:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=652024




Tainted sludge piles up
Despite OK for landfill, sewerage district runs short of storage
By DON BEHM
dbehm at journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 24, 2007
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District will run out of places to store 
contaminated sewage sludge fertilizer on Jones Island in less than a week, 
so federal regulators agreed Friday to let the district begin trucking some 
of it to a specially licensed toxic-waste landfill near Detroit.

But it likely will take most of a week to arrange the disposal, pushing the 
district to the brink of a storage crisis, according to Jeff Spence, 
Milorganite marketing director for MMSD.

"It's critical now," he said. "We've got to move something out of storage."

The cost of dealing with the PCB-tainted sludge has risen to more than $1.25 
million. And the tally will grow because the Jones Island sewage treatment 
plant continues to churn out 100 to 120 tons of contaminated sludge each 
day.

Environmental Protection Agency representatives authorized the district to 
ship as much as 1,628 tons of sludge containing the highest levels of PCBs 
to the Wayne Disposal Inc. landfill in Belleville, Mich., an EPA spokesman 
said in Chicago. The estimated cost is more than $235,000.



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Sewage sludge from the Jones Island wastewater treatment plant has been 
contaminated with toxic PCBs since the third week of June. Sometime after 
June 18, Milwaukee and MMSD cleaning crews likely dislodged sediment 
containing polychlorinated biphenyls that had settled at the bottom of two 
sewers over decades. The freed chemicals flowed to Jones Island.

The PCBs came from historic discharges, not recent midnight dumping, 
officials have said. These chemicals have not been manufactured in the 
United States since 1977 and were banned from all uses in 1979.

On July 5, the Milwaukee crew notified state environmental officials of a 
tar-like substance in a sewer near N. 31st St. and W. Auer Ave. A history of 
PCB dumping in that area prompted the district on July 9 to collect sludge 
fertilizer samples at Jones Island for testing. Test results came back July 
26.

As of Friday, more than 7,500 tons of tainted fertilizer was being stored in 
concrete silos on Jones Island, immediately west of the Hoan Bridge over the 
Milwaukee harbor, according to Spence.

The 1,628 tons contaminated with 50 parts per million or more of PCBs are 
considered toxic waste under federal law. This sludge is stored in two of 
the 14 silos.

Preliminary tests show that an additional 2,387 tons or more of the sludge 
contains 10 to 50 ppm of the chemicals. This sludge, stored in three of the 
silos, likely will be disposed of at a local landfill at an estimated fee of 
$25 to $30 a ton, Spence said. This could add up to $71,610 to the final 
cost of cleaning up the mess.

Other known costs include a revised estimate of $800,000 for the loss of 
inventory that could have been sold as Milorganite and other fertilizer 
products.

Spread on area fields
Contaminated sewage sludge fertilizer was spread last month on parts of 30 
public recreational areas - 25 Milwaukee Public School fields and five 
Milwaukee County parks - before the district learned that the sludge 
contained excessive concentrations of the chemicals.

Each of the 30 properties was closed temporarily until soil tests determined 
whether cleanup was necessary. All but three MPS properties have reopened.

Small areas at the Custer High School football practice field and ball 
diamonds at Wick Field and Dyer Field remain closed because tests found more 
than 1 ppm of PCBs in soil at those locations. A contractor is expected to 
begin excavating the top 6 inches of soil from those areas after Labor Day, 
said Peter Topczewski, MMSD water quality manager.

Even though federal regulations allow sewage sludge fertilizer to be spread 
on soil if it contains less than 10 ppm of PCBs, the EPA has ordered the 
district to remove soil with a tenth of that concentration.

Milwaukee Health Department officials do not expect people who played at any 
of the recreational fields to become ill from exposure to the fertilizer. 
The areas were closed as a precaution to prevent unnecessary exposure to the 
chemicals.

A known carcinogen
Long-term exposure to PCBs in the environment or in food, such as tainted 
fish, is known to cause cancer in animals and is suspected of damaging the 
human immune system and disrupting reproductive health. Federal health 
officials have labeled PCBs as probable human carcinogens.

Soil testing has cost the district about $100,000, and disposing of the 
contaminated soil likely will add at least $50,000 in expenses, Spence said.

Contaminated sewage sludge continues to be produced at the Jones Island 
plant at a rate of 100 to 120 tons per day, and workers have begun squeezing 
additional tons into the available silos, Spence said.

At least three silos must remain empty so they can be used for quick 
transfers of the dried sludge between silos. Transfers are needed to cool 
off the fertilizer and prevent combustion that could ignite a fire.

There have been no fires since mid-July, when the district began 
unexpectedly storing every pound of dried sludge produced at Jones Island.

Dried sewage sludge does not contain feces or other waste. The sludge is 
billions of microbes that have been removed from the sewage treatment 
process each day after digesting organic waste.

[Note:    US EPA:   “Wastewater contains the feces and urine from both 
humans and animals that can carry many disease-causing organisms. . . 
.During the course of typical wastewater treatment, the microorganisms in 
sewage are reduced in number, becoming concentrated in the sewage sludge. 
The infectious dose varies with the organisms and, particularly for bacteria 
and viruses, can vary widely. Some reported infective dose data shows values 
as low as 100 for Salmonella, <1PFU for Poliovirus, and 1 egg for helminths. 
  “   http://oaspub.epa.gov/eims/eimsapi.dispdetail?deid=60102  ]


The sludge looks like a thick goo, and it is heated to at least 185 degrees 
to kill pathogens as part of the fertilizer production.

No sewage sludge fertilizer made after June 18 has been shipped from Jones 
Island. Shipments of fertilizer from the silos were halted July 17.

Dried sludge has not been used for Milorganite production since June 13, a 
week before the sewer cleaning that likely dislodged the chemicals from 
pipes. By June 13, nitrogen levels in the sludge had slipped below 5.9%, and 
the sludge could no longer be used for Milorganite, which promises 6% 
nitrogen, Spence said.

Sewage sludge fertilizer made after June 13 was being set aside for other 
uses. Those include sales to companies that blend it with other products and 
the longstanding practice of free distribution of the lower-nitrogen 
fertilizer to municipalities and school districts in Milwaukee County.

The district now has depleted its stock of bagged Milorganite that it can 
ship to distributors for sale to garden centers, Spence said.

He said he is not certain when levels of PCBs in the sludge will drop below 
1 ppm. Only then can the district resume the use of the sludge for its 
nationally distributed Milorganite.

The district has set a limit of 1 ppm so Milorganite can be sold in states 
with standards more stringent than the EPA's.