Sludge Watch ==> Virginia - more concern about sludge use (Virginia is for Sludgers)

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The County guy in the story - Mr Sleeper - doesn't seem to be aware the 
leachate from landfills generally ends up being pumped into sewage sludge.  
So the toxic content that concerns him IS in the sludge.

........................................


http://www.registerbee.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=DRB%2FMGArticle%2FDRB_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173351852227&path=!news
COUNTY: SLUDGE SAFE FOR FARM USE

Some have voiced concerns over practice of spreading the waste as fertilizer 
for crops.



By Rebecca Blanton

Register & Bee Staff Writer



DANVILLE - Sludge. It looks a lot like it sounds. It’s part human excrement, 
part kitchen leftovers, part cat litter, part soap.



Toss in assorted toxic household chemicals, which most people do; add some 
hospital waste, plus several millions of gallons of water from industries 
ranging from Goodyear to furniture re-strippers. Use whatever will fit down 
a toilet or drain and you’ve created what some citizens call a “chemical 
cocktail” that eventually ends up in part, in that nasty stuff called 
municipal sludge.



“That’s (sludge) nothing compared to what goes into the county landfill from 
the county’s compactor sites,” says Pittsylvania County administrator Dan 
Sleeper.



County supervisors recently approved a request to allow the City of 
Danville’s wastewater treatment plant to dump some of its sludge in the 
county landfill, sparking concern once again over whether or not “sludge is 
safe.”



Virginia spreads more than half its sludge on farmlands - a practice 
concerned citizens around the commonwealth, including many in Pittsylvania 
County, are concerned about. The county already has a permit to spread 1,000 
acres of sludge on land in the county.



“People get upset,” Sleeper said. “This gets controversial and there’s no 
real problem with it. I’ve been doing it in Halifax County for years without 
a problem.”



The board approved the acceptance of several tons of sludge a month, the 
equivalent of one “dump-truck load” a month, said Sleeper.



The city was taking its sludge to North Carolina, but wanted to switch to 
the county to save money on gas and transportation costs. Harwood, a retiree 
who lives in the Chesapeake Bay area, has fought for more than a decade to 
keep sludge from being spread on farmlands in Virginia. He agrees with 
Sleeper on one thing that the safest place for sludge is actually in a 
properly lined, well-maintained landfill.



He’s not as agreeable on spreading sludge on land.



“A landfill is the best place for sludge, not out on fields,” Harwood said. 
Harwood, who educates as much as he advocates, says sludge is typically 
treated by drying and adding lime before it is spread on land for 
fertilizing. Larger contents, such as rags, rocks and other solids, are 
screened out before the sludge is sent to a landfill.



But sludge spread on land may still contain objectionable things such as 
chemicals, toxic metals, viruses, prescription drugs that were flushed down 
the drain and a variety of things that just aren’t good for people. Once 
spread on land, animals, birds and the wind can blow and track toxins 
around, Harwood explained.



Sleeper contends that sludge, even if spread on farmland, is safe and that 
sludge is a non-issue, but that consumer waste from households is more of a 
toxic problem.



“You may have an odor for a day or two (with sludge), then it’s gone,” 
Sleeper said.



“Pesticides, paint, paint-thinners, poisons - the most toxic solid waste is 
consumer solid waste and we can’t stop it,” Sleeper said. “What’s in that 
sludge is nowhere near what we take in on a daily basis from citizens.”



Harwood says health effects from sludge can include Hepatitis B and allergic 
reactions, headaches, nausea, diarrhea and others. Sludge is not tested for 
all chemicals. Newer chemicals aren’t tested for and may cause health 
problems.



Treating sludge makes it “safer” but not “safe,” said Harwood.



“Treatment has little if any effect on the concentrations of 
pharmaceuticals, viruses, industrial chemicals and heavy metals present in 
the sludge,” he said. “Bacterial concentrations in Class B sludge (the kind 
that will be spread on land in the county) only needs to be reduced to 2 
million per (dry) gram. So a 20-ton sludge truck contains over a trillion 
bacteria.”



The organic content of sludge is good for the soil and for some crops, but 
the other stuff - the chemicals, pharmaceuticals and toxic metals aren’t, he 
pointed out.



“These substances can build up in the soil over time and go into the 
groundwater, shallow water wells and waterways where we get our drinking 
water,” he said.



These viruses and other contaminents are spread by birds, dogs and even the 
wind as dust from sludge is blown or tracked into homes, creeks and 
waterways.



Bacteria may “die off” over time, but viruses live longer in the soil.



Heavy metals and chemicals don’t die off, Harwood said.