Sludge Watch ==> Florida Sludge Farm - Male Goat with Functioning Udders

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071016/NEWS/710160321/1018

Article published Oct 19, 2007

Utility gets OK to keep spreading sludge despite residents' worries

BY NATHAN CRABBE
THE GAINESVILLE SUN
Gainsville FL



ARCHER - A male goat that developed udders has become a symbol of concerns 
about waste being spread on a southwest Alachua County farm.

Gainesville Regional Utilities has spread sewage sludge on Roger Williams' 
farm for 26 years. A byproduct of the process to treat human waste, sludge 
is used as a fertilizer for crops.

GRU is now trying to buy the property, but new regulations mean the utility 
needed a special permit to continue spreading sludge there. Alachua County 
planning commissioners gave their support late Wednesday to a permit 
allowing the utility to continue spreading sludge.

County health officials recommended the approval, saying the site poses no 
apparent health risks. But neighbors say they're concerned that sludge is 
contaminating their wells and dust from the dried sludge is being blown onto 
their properties.

Neighbors base some of their concerns on mysterious ailments and problems 
with their livestock, including the goat's development of female parts.

"When you put all these things together, it begins to look suspicious," said 
John Biro, a University of Florida philosophy professor who lives near the 
site.

Experts say the goat's changes and human health problems could be caused by 
factors unrelated to the site.

Utility officials say they plan to create setbacks of 75 feet from property 
lines and will conduct monitoring to ensure pollutants aren't contaminating 
groundwater.

But a growing list of health concerns has led to questions about using 
sludge as a fertilizer. A handful of European countries have banned the land 
application of sludge, and some U.S. municipalities have imposed 
restrictions.

The Cornell Waste Management Institute at Cornell University has documented 
163 health incidents that citizens have associated with sludge applications. 
The incidents include respiratory distress, gastrointestinal problems and 
staph infections, said Ellen Z. Harrison, director of the institute.

She said sludge application regulations are based on the assumptions that 
pollutants are trapped in soil before reaching groundwater and do not travel 
through the air. But anecdotal evidence and emerging research suggest 
otherwise, she said.

"If I lived near a site, I would be concerned about airborne contaminants," 
she said. "And I'd certainly be concerned if I had a well nearby."

The sludge site is just east of the Alachua/Levy county line on Archer Road. 
Roger Williams initially bought the 1,200-acre farm to dispose of chicken 
manure.

He reached an agreement with GRU in 1981 to also put sludge on the site. He 
said the farm had sandy soils that are poor for farming, but the 
applications improved the ability to grow crops.

Sludge, which utilities prefer to call by the public-relations term 
biosolids, can fall in two classes. Class A has been treated to remove all 
bacteria and viruses, while Class B can contain detectable levels of 
pathogens.

GRU spreads Class B sludge on the Williams farm. The state restricts public 
access to such sites and imposes waiting periods before crops can be 
harvested.

In the past, GRU put sludge on several sites around Gainesville. But the 
Williams farm presented advantages because groundwater is 30 feet below the 
surface and there are no nearby water bodies, reducing concerns of polluting 
water, according to utility officials.

Williams said he's getting older - he's 72 - so he agreed to sell the farm 
to GRU. The Gainesville City Commission voted in June to buy the site for 
$11.5 million.

GRU presented the city with two other options for its sludge-disposal 
operations. It could treat and dry sludge to a level where it could be sold 
as fertilizer, or sludge could be used as a fuel to produce energy.

Utility officials said the first option was more costly and there's a glut 
of such fertilizer on the market, meaning the utility might still need the 
farm to dispose of the material.

They said the second option would require an unproven technology. But they 
said the choice of the Williams farm doesn't permanently lock them into the 
site.

"We can continue land applications indefinitely [but] it doesn't mean we'll 
be doing land applications forever," said David Richardson, GRU's assistant 
general manager for water and wastewater systems.

He said the utility's purchase of the site could reduce the level of some 
pollutants in groundwater. GRU plans to do mostly hay farming on the site, 
he said, which would reduce the need for artificial fertilizer, which would 
be used on other crops.

New land-use regulations, implemented in 2006, mean the utility needs a 
special-exception permit to continue spreading sludge on the site.

The Planning Commission will consider the permit Wednesday, while the full 
County Commission would need to give final approval at a later date.

Biro, who has lived on a nearby property since 1995, said the process allows 
neighbors to air long-standing concerns.

"We have been concerned about this practice for years, but we didn't think 
there was much we could do about it," he said. QUESTIONS OF RISK IN AIR, 
WATER

Neighbors say heavy winds can blow residue from the dusty site onto their 
properties. They say these dust clouds coincide with health problems such as 
nausea, dizziness and flu-like symptoms.

There's been anecdotal evidence that people living near sludge sites are 
getting sick, said Jordan Pecchia, an assistant professor of environmental 
engineering at Yale University.

While bacteria and viruses had been thought to be killed in the air, Pecchia 
is studying whether pathogens or metals can be airborne. He said the 
research is ongoing and the issue is unresolved.

"There's not a huge amount of evidence that it's affected human health, but 
there's a lot of uncertainty," he said.

Groundwater is another concern. The farm is located in a part of the county 
where residents rely on wells and where sandy soils and a lack of a solid 
barrier between the surface and the groundwater can allow contaminants to 
enter the aquifer.

The county Health Department has tested 18 wells on and around the farm. The 
tests found nitrate levels exceeding state drinking-water standards in one 
well on the farm and another just east of the property, said Anthony Dennis, 
the county's assistant director for environmental health.

While nitrates help plants grow, they can cause human health problems such 
as a blood disorder in infants. One of the wells with high nitrate levels 
isn't being used, and the owner of the other well is being offered a water 
filter under a state water-quality program, Dennis said.

He said follow-up testing is being done to determine whether those wells and 
others east of the farm have high level of metals or other contaminants.

Biro and other concerned neighbors live to the west of the farm. Dennis said 
tests suggest groundwater is flowing in the opposite direction, meaning the 
area where most residents live is not at risk.

"Given the data we've collected and reviewed to this point, we do not feel 
there's a significant risk to citizens living around the site," he said.

GOAT SYMBOL OF CONCERNS
But neighbors aren't convinced. Biro said his horses have had problems 
reproducing and his wife has experienced headaches and nausea.

His groundwater has shown high levels of uranium and arsenic. Health 
officials say the contaminants likely occur naturally in his soil and they 
are doing follow-up testing to see whether a filter on the well is removing 
them.

Jose Sifontes is an environmental consultant who owns a property near the 
sludge site where he keeps several goats. He said a billy goat last year 
developed udders that produce milk.

"He is the father of all these goats ... but he developed udders," he said.

Chris DeCubellis, a neighbor who works as an animal-science extension 
officer in Gilchrist County, said he worries that residents and hospitals 
are contributing pharmaceuticals to sludge. Drugs such as birth-control 
pills could have caused the change to the goat, he said.

"All that stuff goes down the drain," he said.

Male goats have been known to develop udders on sites where sludge in not an 
issue, said Owen Rae, chief of the UF College of Veterinary Medicine's food 
animal reproduction and medicine section.

He said goats can experience the phenomenon if fed or exposed to estrogen. 
He said one possible explanation is clovers containing chemicals that have 
the same effects as estrogen.

GRU officials say the waste-treatment process removes all but trace amounts 
of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products that can act as hormone 
disrupters.

But Harrison of Cornell's waste institute said a study of sheep reared on 
sludgebtreated pastures found evidence of hormonal disruption.

"It's not insane to think that feminization of animals is an issue," she 
said.

Patricia Cline, a risk-assessment expert with CH2M Hill, working with GRU, 
said such chemicals are incredibly complex. A complete diagnosis would be 
needed to connect to problems with human or animal health, she said.

"It's hard to link them with what we know is in the solids," she said.

But Biro said he doesn't have the money to fully investigate the problem. 
GRU should be responsible for proving the site is safe, he said.

"It's a sad day when a citizen has to prove he should be protected," he 
said.