Sludge Watch ==> Gov't study: sludge spread on tile drained fields pollutes the environment

[Maureen Reilly]

OCAPS Press release


Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: Government research confirms sewage spread on tile drained land 
pollutes environment



Dear Mayor and Councillors,

The attached study conducted by OMAFRA, Agriculture
Canada, and Health Canada, found pharmaceutical
contaminants from households and institutions in
treated sewage sludge applied to fields near Winchester
(the area where much of Ottawa's sewage is spread)
resulted in up to 34% of one marker going through the
tile drains to pollute the environment, indicative of enough
contamination to cause serious harm to fish, frogs
and salamanders downstream.

This study was done in the fall of 2005, but the results
have not been made public until now, 2008. This is an
urgent problem, since most sewage is being spread
on prime agricultural tile-drained lands.

We again ask that you re-impose a moratorium on spreading
Ottawa's pathogenic and toxic sewage sludge on farmland,
given that 2 recent peer reviewed scientific health studies
have found significantly elevated illnesses within 1 kilometer
of sewage spreading, and now both levels of senior government
have  concluded that sewage pollutants are escaping through
agricultural field tile drains to contaminate surface waters.

Ottawa's last spread field before the moratorium (near Edwards)
resulted in contaminants flowing from a broken pipe directly
into a creek just upstream of where a farmer watered his cattle.
This pollution happened despite the City following Provincial
Spreading Guidelines to the letter under the watchful eyes
of our OCAPS volunteers. Fortunately the pollution was
discovered by the farmer before his cattle were harmed.

These studies finding harm are just the tip of the iceburg, as
no one has studied the health impact on people living further
than 1 km from sewage spreading,  and the drugs tested for
in the tile drain study are just a tiny fraction of the approximately
100,000 chemical contaminants from industry and households
and dump leachates in Ottawa's sewage sludge with a potential
to cause harm.

Also, the elephant in the room is the fact that no studies have been
done to see if the sludge contaminants which bind to the soil and
stay on the fields are being incorporated into the fodder and food
crops grown in city sewage and recycling in the food we eat.
One study by Cornell University found elevated heavy metals in
weeds growing adjacent to such fields, so it is likely crops grown
on the fields are contaminated too.

Our federal and provincial governments are incapable of reacting
quickly to protect people's health and the environment, witness
the foot-dragging for decades before effective measures  to stop
smoking.  It is the municipal governments that are closest to
people and best able to take urgent action. In Ottawa's case,
the past two-year moratorium on spreading effectively stopped
sewage spreading on local farmland, except for a token import
spread trumpeted by the sewage spreading lobby to fool new
Councillors, unaware of the issues, into thinking farmers have
a need and a right to Ottawa's sewage.

Most farmers want no part of sewage spreading, a consensus
shared by the rural population. If you don't believe this, take a
poll of the rural people, and you'll find sewage spreading on
farm fields is being pushed from the top down, while the move
to stop the spreading is coming from the grass-roots up. Even
MPAC has ruled that proximity to sludge spreading can lower
property value. It's not right to impose a harmful practice on
many for the financial benefit of a few.

Please rethink your support for this unsafe and polluting practice
and don't spread Ottawa's pathogenic and toxic sludge on
agricultural land this Spring! Protect our rural communities by
burying Ottawa's sewage in landfills like Trail Road and LaFleche
until a better means of destroying this contaminated waste,
such as melting it in Plasco's plasma torch, is proven effective
and economical.

sincerely,

Jim Poushinsky
chair, Ottawa Citizens Against Pollution by Sewage
RR#1 Edwards, Ontario K0A1V0
tel. 613-821-2409
jpoushinsky at xplornet.com

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