Sludge Watch ==> Warkworth ONTARIO- Sludge Forum attracts large crowd

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Muncipalities of Ontario, under the Municipal Act are allowed to pass such 
by-laws :


102. Every council may pass such by-laws and make such regulations for 
thehealth, safety, morality and welfare of the inhabitants of the 
municipality inmatters not specifically provided for by this Act as may be 
deemed expedient andare not contrary to law

Under this provision the tiny Ontario Township of Melancthon passed a bylaw 
that restricts the use of sewage sludge in their jurisdiction.  Any 
muncipality can pass bylaws restricting sludge spreading.

For instance, municipalities can control:

- hours of operation (ie can limit hours to hours when Min of Env has office 
hours)
- how stinky the sludge can be (odour bylaw)
-  may forbid use of road as staging area
- may require posting of notices,
- may require neighbour review of CofA application

They may not outright ban  waste sludge as that is provincial purview, but 
they may set conditions on when, where and how it can be applied.

There is also no sludge land application in the whole of York Region.... a 
huge area that stretches from Toronto to Lake Simcoe.

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

Community Press
Osprey Media

Large crowd turns out for public forum on using sewage as fertilizer

By Brian Schuette
Local News - Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Warkworth - Ontario - Canada

The public meeting on the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer on farms in the 
Warkworth area drew a large number of people to the Legion on Sept. 15. 
Event organizer Wendy Deavitt and anti-sludge activists Maureen Reilly and 
Jim Pochinsky presented information outlining their position that the 
practice is a health hazard to both people and animals in the vicinity of 
fields where the sludge is spread. A film was shown supporting this view, 
which included segments on countries and communities where the practice has 
been banned. Some options to treat the material for disposal or destroy it 
were also discussed but most proved to be at an early stage of development.

Reilly suggested that some municipalities in Ontario have been successful in 
banning the material from their communities.

She named York region as one of them. Present at the meeting were Mayor 
Hector Macmillan and Councillor Bill White and although neither had heard of 
this information, they promised to investigate it further. It was their 
understanding that municipalities do not have jurisdiction in this matter, 
with a ban being a provincial matter.

In the end, Macmillan and White promised to continue investigating the issue 
but told the concerned residents that they didn’t know who to believe. They 
restated that sentiment again at Monday night's council session. As White 
put it, his friends in the community were telling him that they were made 
ill by the sludge, yet at a conference of experts that he attended in 
Kingston, he was told repeatedly that the material and practice of spreading 
it was not harmful.

The mayor said he felt that there was a lot of good data presented at the 
Legion, but at this stage the municipality was still in a fact finding 
position. “We are interested in the facts. There’s lots of perception out 
there and we don’t know whether that perception is accurate,” Macmillan said 
at council. “We’re not scientists, we’re not a judge and jury, and we’re not 
about to make a call on whether any of these processes are good for you or 
bad. We’re on a fact finding mission to find what’s the best thing to do for 
our citizens. One thing we’re sure of is that many of our citizens are 
concerned, and if they’re concerned, we’re concerned.”

Deputy mayor Dean Peters reiterated his belief stated in earlier council 
sessions that this is a provincial issue. He said he has seen no evidence 
that municipalities can ban the application of sludge in their communities. 
He added that the onus is on the Ministries of the Environment and Health to 
address the health issues that are being raised. “The only thing we can do 
is try to enforce provincial regulations,” Peters said. “I understand 
there’s all kinds of nightmares out there with respect to the cavalier 
attitudes of some of the applicators. Those have to be dealt with by the 
MOE.”

Community Press
Osprey Media