Sludge Watch ==> Raleigh -Overapplication of Sludge Leads to Groundwater Contamination

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This is an example of flagrant disregard for environmental protection by the 
wastewater industry.
Now they don't want to pay for cleaning up the damage they have done to the 
water and to people's drinking water supplies

Another reason land application of sludge needs to stop.  There is no 
liability protection, not for farmers who use sludge and non for the 
neighbors.

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New Bern wants state to make Raleigh clean up sewage sludge before it gets 
into Neuse River
Nikie Mayo
Sun Journal
October 11, 2007 - 8:24PM


<New Bern officials are preparing a letter that will ask the state to make 
Raleigh clean up sludge from a sewage plant before it seeps into the Neuse 
River.

“We’re not necessarily going to ask the Division of Water Quality to go out 
and hang them by their toes, but we do intend to get across the message that 
Raleigh should not be allowed to get away with putting nitrogen into the 
Neuse,” said Danny Meadows, New Bern’s acting city manager. Meadows is 
filling in for Bill Hartman, who is out of town this week.

Under the conditions of a state-issued permit, Raleigh is allowed to pump 
“biosolid” — sludge that is the byproduct of wastewater treatment — onto 
some fields it owns. But over the years, the city pumped more than its share 
of sludge onto some fields and now the groundwater around the Neuse River 
Wastewater Treatment Plant is contaminated. Raleigh is asking the division 
to let nature take care of cleaning up the overflow.

“Raleigh miscalculated,” division spokeswoman Susan Massengale said 
Thursday.

Because of those miscalculations, there are “hot spots” where contamination 
near the plant is 18 times what is allowed by law, she said. That 
contamination was not discovered until it began to affect drinking water in 
some Raleigh households, according to Massengale.

“This is all on Wake County property, but it’s adjacent to the Neuse. The 
worry is about nitrogen percolating there,” she said. “But this is a very 
complicated, layered issue.”

Raleigh contends that it should be granted a cleanup waiver because it has 
not come close to reaching its allowed limit of 676,417 pounds of nitrogen 
for the Neuse. That limit is based on the services Raleigh provides for 
itself and for surrounding towns. If the variance is granted, the city can 
legally put another 120,000 pounds of pounds of nitrogen in the river during 
the next 40 years. About a quarter of that gas will make its way to New 
Bern, according to Larry Baldwin, the riverkeeper for the lower Neuse.

Without a waiver, Raleigh is responsible for cleanup, according to division 
regulations.

“The contamination of groundwater is the result of something that happened 
during a permitted activity. For that permitted activity, Raleigh was given 
their bounds and they didn’t execute the permit,” Massengale said.

There should be consequences for that failure, Baldwin said during an 
interview this week.

“Everybody needs to realize that what happens in Raleigh does not stay in 
Raleigh,” he said.

Meadows said New Bern has done its part to protect the Neuse and expects the 
same of its Wake County counterparts.

“We’ve upgraded our sanitary practices to do what we can,” he said. “We’ve 
stepped up to the plate and they should, too. The tone of our letter will 
stress the importance of protecting the river, not only for the city of New 
Bern, but in the interest of the entire state.”

The division is taking comments on Raleigh’s request until Nov. 5. The state 
Environmental Management Commission will hear the request that month, but 
will delay acting on it until January.