Sludge Watch ==> Warkwarth Ontario Sludge Sites - People fear health at risk

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The people in Warkwarth have been trying to get the attention of public 
health officials for some time.
There is good documentation on community illness.

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

May 23, 2007

People fear health at risk



Photo John Campbell
Almost 40 people met with Trent Hills Deputy Mayor Dean Peters and Coun. 
Bill White last week with concerns.


Three dozen people met with Trent Hills Deputy Mayor Dean Peters and Coun. 
Bill White last weekend to communicate fears that the spreading of biosolids 
near their homes threatens their health.

For some the evidence is incontrovertible. Linda Donaldson told the group 
she and her husband Roger were among 22 people who became seriously ill in 
the fall of 2005 after treated municipal sewage was applied on farm fields 
near their home on Norham Road. All suffered from diarrhea. At one point Mr. 
Donaldson experienced cramps so severe that the pain caused him to fall to 
the floor unconscious and an ambulance had to be summoned.

“We had to sell our house and move to Campbellford,” Mrs. Donaldson said. 
Within six weeks the “horrible cough” that had been plaguing her stopped.

The couple have been seeing a toxicologist in Toronto who has informed them 
they have elevated levels of heavy metals in their systems. The specialist 
is also treating six other people from Percy ward “with similar problems,” 
and she “expect(s) the number of patients will grow in the Warkworth area,” 
Ms. Donaldson said.

She and her husband “were starting to feel really good” until a few weeks 
ago. “My chromium has shot up again, so obviously (biosolids are) being 
spread somewhere,” Ms. Donaldson said. “Our toxicologist said (airborne 
pathogens) can travel eight to 10 kilometres from a site.”

Research conducted at the University of Arizona bear this out, reported 
Nigel Young. The researchers found that “people are safe if they are 10 
kilometres away” from where biosolids are being applied. But in Ontario, 
“the guidelines still allow the spreading of sludge 25 metres away from a 
home,” he said. (This separation distance applies if the material is 
injected or worked into the soil within six hours of being spread; the 
distance is 90 metres if surface applied.)

Last week biosolids shipped from Cobourg were applied on agricultural land 
at the rear of Mr. Young’s property. It was that massive operation seven 
kilometres west of Warkworth, involving a convoy of tankers, that led to the 
May 20 meeting of the residents at the home of Rob Milligan on County Road 
29. Most of the people present live along the same road.

Mr. Young said he has “absolutely nothing against” farmers for making use of 
material supplied to them for free that provides nutrients to the soil, 
“because they are working within the guidelines that are laid down.”

It’s “a good economic deal” for them and “they are up against hard times.”

However, he is critical of the way “the latest amount of sludge was 
distributed, because there were spillages.”

Mr. Young said research conducted by another American university found that 
biosolids are not tested for all the possibly harmful substances they 
contain. “The only thing we can hope for, (with the help of council 
members), is to get a moratorium, to suspend the use of this sludge until we 
get proper analysis,” he said.

Douglas Hotte said farmers shouldn’t be excused for engaging in a legal 
practice that research has shown is linked to neighbours getting sick. “Why 
are they not taking the moral high ground?” he asked. “We should shame the 
farmers who use it.”

Mr. Young suggested he should be “upset at the various government agencies 
which have allowed this to happen,” a point Mr. Hotte acknowledged.

“We have to do something really fast,” said Michele Mertzer. Her son’s 
asthma attacks have grown worse in recent days. “It’s getting scary.”

Mr. Peters said Trent Hills asked its legal counsel last fall “whether or 
not the municipality could pass a bylaw banning the application of biosolids 
and the answer was very clearly no.” Last December council approved his 
resolution that a bylaw be drafted governing how biosolids are applied and 
requiring that advance notice be given of when it is to be done. “One of the 
things that really annoy the hell out of people is the whole absence of 
proper communication,” he said. “It’s disgraceful.”

Trent Hills received about four hours notice of the spreading that was done 
May 14.

The communications plan he proposes is for the municipality, and through it, 
residents to be given two weeks’ warning. Residents would also be informed 
of the “problematic” provisions in the agreement that farmers have with the 
Ministry of the Environment and the municipality where the sewage is 
generated. He suggested neighbours could assist with the enforcement by 
monitoring how the biosolids are spread and how soon they are incorporated 
into the soil. “There should be consequences (for violations),” he said. “We 
need you to tell us (when that happens).”

Mr. Peters said he would table a motion at council this week (May 22) 
recommending that Trent Hills “hit the pause button” on the spreading of 
biosolids. His proposal is to seek an immediate agreement with Cobourg 
suspending further applications until “some kind of better understanding” is 
reached between the two municipalities.

“They’re not doing anything illegal but they’re sure doing things that are 
causing concerns in our community,” he said.
http://www.indynews.ca/article.php?id=1222