Sludge Watch ==> Tacoma WA - spraying septic tank / portapotty waste on school property - comment

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Here is a ghastly proposal...
To spray portable toilet, cess pool, and septage (pump out waste) on a 
school forest property in an environmentally sensitive canyon.

These wastes can have very high levels of metals, pathogens, and also salt 
(used to stop portable toilet wastes from freezing) and dangerous chemicals 
like formaldehyde (used for disinfection) and deodorant chemicals.  After 
the Toronto SARS outbreaks - the Medical Officers of Health had to report on 
where the SARS victims were living..so see if their SARS infected fecal 
waste from septic tanks had been spread on rural lands.  Spreading septic 
wastes is a terrible idea for so many reasons.
And on a school property!

Also : google up portable toilet deodorizer...and see the kinds of chemicals 
that are likely to be in these wastes...like  paradichlorobenze:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradichlorobenzene

Please please...make your comments known about this disgusting project.
....................................................................


Tacoma, WA - October 15, 2007

  Enlarge image
COURTESY OF NORTHWEST CASCADE INC.A Northwest Cascade truck sprays waste 
from septic tanks on forestland. The company wants to pay to spray on White 
River School District land. Enlarge image


The first commercial spraying of septic tank waste on forestland in Pierce 
County could begin before the end of this year, leaving behind roughly 6 
million gallons a year of the partially treated domestic waste.
Neighbors who live near the site south of Carbonado aren’t happy. They say 
the Carbon River canyon is too environmentally sensitive, and they want more 
discussion before permits are issued.

“This is not a remote forest land; it’s our backyards,” wrote Mardel Chowen 
of Carbonado in a letter to Pierce County Planning and Land Services 
department. “We don’t want this here. We will fight in any way we can.”

The proposal comes from Northwest Cascade Inc., parent company of Honey 
Bucket and Flohawks, a Puyallup-based septic tank cleaning company.

It plans to spray treated septic waste on 1,300 acres of White River School 
District land on the ridge above Highway 165 near Carbonado.

Called septage, the waste originates in septic tanks, cesspools and portable 
toilets.

At least four 6,000-gallon tanker trucks would haul the material five days a 
week using Forest Service and logging roads in the area, according to the 
proposal.

J.R. Inman, the general manager of Northwest Cascade’s Flohawks Division, 
said septage is considered environmentally safe and an effective fertilizer 
for forestland.

White River school officials also don’t see a problem. They say the idea of 
helping their trees grow faster is good and that payment of a penny per 
gallon of waste sprayed sounds like a good deal.

Northwest Cascade approached the school district and estimated annual 
payments of $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

“It’s a natural kind of process,” Deputy School Superintendent Roger Marlow 
said of the spraying.

He said the county Health Department and the state Department of Ecology 
wouldn’t permit it if it was bad for the environment.


SPREADING CONTROVERSIAL


The application of biosolids on pastureland isn’t new.

The City of Tacoma, for example, each year distributes about 4,000 tons of 
its EPA award-winning Tagro soil products from its wastewater treatment 
plan, and spreads it on about 350 acres of pasture in Pierce, Thurston and 
Kitsap counties.

This use of biosolids, however, can generate controversy. Some believe it is 
safe if done correctly; others claim too little is known about its effects 
on the environment.

Ellen Harrison, director of Cornell’s University’s Waste Management 
Institute, is concerned that there are no federal requirements for testing 
sewage waste for heavy metals and other pollutants.

“The problem we saw is not so much human health problems … too much copper 
is a problems for plants,” she said.

The better method of disposal is at treatment plants, Harrison said, but 
haulers don’t like to pay the tipping fee.

The need to dispose of septic tank waste is not going away soon. There were 
75,000 tanks in use in Pierce County homes, schools and buildings as of June 
2006, serving more than a quarter of the county’s residents. Each year 
nearly 60 percent of new county home permits include septic systems.

The waste is stabilized by bacteria over time inside septic tanks or by 
chemicals added inside portable toilets.

When Northwest Cascade gets it, the waste is screened for large materials. 
It can also be mixed with a liquid caustic lime to reduce odor and further 
break it down into compost.

The treated septage can be used in agriculture and forest areas, but unlike 
Tacoma’s Tagro fertilizer, it is not suitable for home gardens.

Inman of Northwest Cascade’s Flohawks Division said his company currently 
sends a high percentage of its septage to Biorecycling in Pacific, where it 
is mixed. After that, it is sprayed on pastureland in Mason and Lewis 
counties.

The rest of the company’s septage goes to the Renton Metro sewage treatment 
plant in King County. The tipping fee is about 10 cents per pound, he said.

The reason for spraying it near Carbonado, he said, is to save money and 
keep Pierce County’s waste at home.

The company spent the past two years researching spraying techniques and the 
effects of septage on forests at the University of Washington’s experimental 
Pack Forest just outside Eatonville. The research will continue at the 
Carbon River site, Inman said.

He said every effort would be made to ensure the septage was applied safely 
and according to federal and state regulations.


‘THE PUBLIC DOESN’T KNOW’


Carbonado resident Jill Cartwright, a member of Friends of the Carbon 
Canyon, said the canyon is too environmentally sensitive for spraying human 
waste. She lives on 18 acres at the south end of the proposed spray area.

Wildlife, mushroom hunters and hikers roam its ridges, she said. Rainwater 
flows from its flanks into the Carbon River and Gales Creek, which feed the 
Puyallup River.

The area is pockmarked with mine shafts. The town of Carbonado’s watershed 
would be less than a half mile from one of the spray sites.

“The public doesn’t know about this,” Cartwright said, adding that neither 
she nor her neighbors were told about the project last summer when Northwest 
Cascade applied for permits.

She said she found a Pierce County Health Department public notice earlier 
this month stapled to a tree behind a locked Forest Service gate.

The company has passed one permitting hurdle: Pierce County planners say the 
spraying doesn’t pose a significant hazard and that no environmental impact 
study is called for.

But the Friends of the Carbon Canyon group says one is needed and that it 
wants the county to allow more time to comment on the project.

The Town of Carbonado also weighed in with a letter expressing concerns 
about how the spraying might affect its water source.

The deadline for comment to county planners ended Friday.


STATE, COUNTY GATHER INFORMATION


Adonais Clark, a senior planner for the county, said he has received many 
letters expressing concern about the project. He said they will be reviewed.

Clark said it’s possible the county could ask for more information before 
passing on its recommendation to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

The Health Department and the state Department of Ecology also are gathering 
information prior to issuing permits. The public has until Oct. 30 to send 
comments to the state.

David Bosch, a Pierce County Health environmental health specialist who is 
handling the permit application, said he hasn’t visited the Carbon River 
site but plans to.

He pointed out that regulations govern the screening of septage, application 
rates, monitoring of spray sites, buffers separating septage from rivers and 
standing water, and use of the land after spraying. For instance, access is 
restricted for up to 30 days after application to a piece of land.

A 20,000-gallon tank erected at the site would hold the septage. Two 
9,000-gallon tanks would be used to mix it with lime before spraying.

Inman said the company plans to spray about 200 acres a year, and it would 
be on relatively flat ground away from steep slopes, creeks and drainages.

“I’m a hunter and an outdoorsman,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t allow 
spraying that would hurt the environment.

He said Northwest Cascade would double the size of any setbacks required by 
the state.

“We don’t want to harm any community,” he said.

HOW TO COMMENT


What: Northwest Cascade Inc.’s septage spraying project in the Carbon River 
canyon area


Send comments to: Wyn Hoffman, Washington Department of Ecology, PO Box 
47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775, or David Bosch, Tacoma-Pierce County Health 
Department, Waste Management Division, 3629 S. D St., Tacoma, WA 98408-6897


Deadline: Oct. 30
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/184699.html