Sludge Watch ==> Virginia legislator prepares bill to regulate sludge ponds

[Maureen Reilly]

Newman to introduce sludge bill


Conor Reilly
mreilly at newsadvance.com
January 5, 2007


A local legislator plans to sponsor a bill that, if passed, would provide 
localities statewide the power to say no to virtually all sewage sludge 
ponds that they currently have no power to regulate.

A “gap” in zoning laws at the state level means localities can’t restrict 
the placement of pits where biosolids are stored until they can be spread on 
nearby farmland, said State Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg. Permitting for 
the ponds is controlled by the Virginia Department of Health.

“Biosolid lakes appear to represent a true environmental threat not only to 
neighboring landowners’ property and families,” Newman said in a news 
release, “but also to the Commonwealth’s streams and lakes.”

The issue is of particular local concern in Bedford County, where officials 
have asked state officials for help to keep a second storage site out of the 
county. Leaders also are working to create a local ordinance to regulate the 
biosolids that do come in.

If Newman’s measure is passed by the General Assembly, Virginia localities 
would be able to decide whether to allow sludge storage ponds.

If a county does want to allow for those ponds, it can determine where the 
ponds can be located through zoning or through a permitting process.

“This (bill) will go a long way toward giving localities a way to control 
these sludge ponds,” Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said 
Thursday.

Newman’s proposed legislation also would allow counties to revoke any 
permits for existing sludge ponds once they expire, he said.

Delegates Kathy Byron, R-Bedford County; Lacey Putney, I-Bedford County; and 
Clarke Hogan, R-South Boston, agreed to co-sponsor the legislation.

Bedford County officials asked the state for help in December after a 
biosolids company requested to store the treated sewage sludge at a site off 
Virginia 122 south of the city of Bedford during the winter.

The county already has a site off Otterview Road that was approved by the 
state last year and, at its peak, stored about 2,800 wet tons of sludge. 
Biosolids are stored in large pits over the winter until they can be spread 
on nearby land.

Newman became involved after Bedford County residents sent a photo of a 
sludge pond that had overflowed down a hill and spilled into adjacent 
properties.

“It was hard to believe,” he said. “There was no ability for the locality to 
have input about where sludge lakes go.”

While Newman’s bill addresses only the storage of biosolids, he said this 
legislation will likely become part of a larger “sludge package” that will 
address the spreading, testing and overall regulation of treated human waste 
shortly after the General Assembly convenes next week.

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