Sludge Watch ==> Farmer says no to sludge - American Water Services processes permit anyway

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

You can see how sludge land application is really a waste disposal 
arrangement between the sewage treatment plant and the waste hauler.  The 
farmer doesn't really get a say in the application of this so called 
'fertilizer'.

This Texas farm property is being processed for a sludge permit against the 
farmer's wishes.  The farmer's customers may be shocked to find the farm 
listed as a permitted sludge site.  The farmer should be able to stop the 
permitting process. But the farmer doesn't count when it comes to sludge.

Warning to farmers: Don't let sludge spreaders get a foot in the door.


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Published: January 09, 2007 09:48 am

Sludge status argued

Rancher, state differ on whether sewage solids bound for Navarro

By Janet Jacobs

Operators of the Hollingsworth Ranch insist that the plans for sewer sludge 
disposal at the ranch are dead, but state regulatory officials say the 
permit request remains active and is being evaluated by the water quality 
division of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.

“It’s not going to happen,” said Gary Grant, business manager of the 
Hollingsworth Ranch. “Their product and our products are just incompatible. 
It was just something that couldn’t work.”

American Water Residuals Management Inc., headquartered in Houston, applied 
June 22 to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to use the sludge 
from sewage plants on the Hollingsworth ranch, located in Northeast Navarro 
County. Sludge is the solid matter left over after the liquid had been 
removed from sewage. The cheapest way to dispose of the sludge is to use it 
as fertilizer.

Grant said the ranch had rejected the plan almost six months ago, but the 
permit is still working its way through the system, according to the state.

“It’s still an active permit application,” said Lisa Wheeler, spokeswoman 
for the TCEQ Monday in a telephone interview. “It’s currently with our 
ground water review program’s assessment team. It’s still in the pipeline.”

The ranch’s business manager said American Water Residuals proposed the 
joint project some time ago, and some tentative planning was done, but the 
decision to apply for a state permit was done without the ranch owner’s 
approval. In the interim, the ranch operators realized that the frequent 
rotation of cattle on the various pastures wouldn’t allow for the long 
periods of idleness necessary for the sludge to dissipate into the soil.

“The type of ranching we do, and the number of cattle we run, wouldn’t have 
allowed us to rotate,” Grant explained.

The decision had nothing to do with environmental concerns, Grant said, 
although some neighbors had expressed their objections.

“In the real world, their product is a safe product,” Grant said. “It’s 
obviously controversial, but people have to realize that stuff doesn’t just 
go away.”

The permit request will stay active until a representative of American Water 
Residuals Management withdraws it, Wheeler said.

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Janet Jacobs may be contacted via e-mail at jacobs at corsicanadailysun.com


http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/local_story_009094822.html