Sludge Watch ==> Florez plans new legislation to curb sludge into Kern

[Maureen Reilly]

Florez plans new legislation to curb sludge
BY VIC POLLARD, Californian Sacramento Bureau
e-mail: vpollard at bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Jan 3 2007 10:10 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jan 3 2007 10:14 PM

SACRAMENTO -- With the Kern County sludge import ban he sponsored blocked by 
the courts, Sen. Dean Florez said Wednesday he plans to try a new tack.

More video from Bakersfield.com:
    Florez, D-Shafter, announced plans to introduce new legislation that 
would require sludge haulers to guarantee that the material in their trucks 
meets federal standards for toxic pollutants like arsenic, lead, cyanide and 
cadmium.

The bill, expected to be introduced next week, would also require state 
agencies to study whether standards are needed for any additional pollutants 
in sewage sludge that may threaten water quality or public health if spread 
on land as fertilizer or composted.

Sludge is the solid -- more often mudlike -- residue left after domestic and 
industrial sewage is treated

Hundreds of thousands of tons of sludge are trucked from Southern California 
treatment plants into Kern County each year for use as fertilizer on 
farmland.

That has led to concern that the sludge poses threats to underground water 
supplies.

County voters last year overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure sponsored 
by Florez to ban the importation of sludge, but it is tied up in litigation 
filed by Los Angeles and other agencies that now haul the material to Kern.

Officials of the sludge-hauling agencies could not be reached for comment 
Wednesday afternoon.


http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/92585.html