Sludge Watch ==> List of Questions Sums Up Sludge Issues

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Wendy Deavitt lives near Warkworth Ontario, next to farm fields spread with 
sludge. The following letter was published in the Ontario Farmer and in the 
Community Press this week.

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


Open Letter to  Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
January 2008

My name has appeared in the press on several occasions in 2007, I have been 
called an “activist” by some.  My name is Wendy Deavitt and I am far from an 
activist, I along with my husband am simply concerned citizens and small 
hobby farm owners.

A letter from you dated October 15, 2007 in which you stated “Our government 
shares your concerns about the threat this practice poses to our environment 
and our health”, I ask the questions listed at the bottom of this letter.

We did not choose to take on the battle of sewage sludge spreading onto 
farmlands; it took us on as we were not given a choice in the matter.  We 
have been robbed of ours and our animal’s health, our property value and our 
right to enjoy our property to its full extent during the months of 
spreading!!

As we enter into a new year, our anxiety levels are high, as we hope we can 
get our farm sold before the sludge spreading starts back up in the spring, 
especially with the possibility of the removal of the CofA’s.  We want our 
quality of life back, enjoying our backyard all summer, barbequing, being 
able to open our windows in the summer, the return of ours and our animal’s 
health and not living in fear every time we hear a tanker truck coming down 
the road.

We don’t have the option of going away for a few days; the Holiday Inn 
doesn’t accept horses, donkeys, chickens, etc.

My mother used to tell me “there is a silver lining in every cloud”, well, I 
guess the “silver lining” in this cloud has been the opportunity to both 
meet and talk with a wide diversity of people from all over the USA and 
across Ontario.  From citizens, farmers (who don’t believe sewage sludge is 
a good idea), lawyers, doctors, scientists, professors  and researchers, 
they have been my inspiration during this “battle”, some have been fighting 
this issue from 2-10 years.

Recently, I received an email from one of these contacts, Jim Poushinsky, 
who has been fighting this issue in Ottawa for approximately 8 years.  He 
sent me a list of questions which sum up the whole issue in a nut shell;

Why is the government allowing the spreading of sewage, highly contaminated 
with all the disease organisms and toxic industrial waste chemicals flushed 
down sewers in our cities onto Ontario’s foodland as “fertilizer”?
Why has the government not stopped this risky practice after the National 
Academy of Science in the USA investigated and declared the safety studies 
are incomplete and insufficient and after the EPA agreed that “the public 
cannot be assured such spreading is safe”?
Why has the government not listened to our own Canadian Infectious Disease 
Society which has called for a moratorium on spreading pathogenic sewage 
wastes on farmland “wherever there is insufficient proof of safety”?
Why has the government failed to conduct its own health and environmental 
study?
The sewage spreading program began under the joint supervision of the 
Provincial Departments of Health, of Environment and of Agriculture, why is 
the government now eliminating the role of DOH & MOE and making OMAFRA 
solely responsible for spreading contaminated city sewage, when OMAFRA’s 
mandate and knowledge is in the business of agriculture, not the protection 
of our health and the environment?
Why is the Federal government not calling for a moratorium on spreading 
toxic sewage wastes on foodland until it can investigate the 4000 or more 
untested chemicals it has concerns about adversely affecting peoples health 
and the environment?
Why is the government ignoring the possibility that antibiotic resistant 
superbugs are being created and transmitted through the sewage spread on 
farmlands?
Who is telling the major media not to cover this story, not to inform their 
city audiences that their pathogenic and toxic residual and industrial 
sewage wastes are being spread as fertilizer on farmlands and can be used to 
grow every food crop except tobacco with no requirement to label this 
produce, so consumers can chose not to buy it?
Why does the sewage spreading industry have such a cozy relationship with 
the government agencies like the MOE, that inspector’s rubber stamp the 
paper work in their offices and don’t even visit the farm fields they have 
licensed as hazardous waste disposal sites?
Why are the complaints of sickness and environmental contamination from 
rural residents exposed to spreading operations not investigated?  Why are 
calls for health and safety studies ignored?

Instead of waiting for more Walkerton’s to happen we urgently need a PUBLIC 
INQUIRY into the health and safety concerns around the spreading of 
pathogenic toxic city sewage on foodland.  Until a Public Inquiry can be 
concluded the Precautionary Principle needs to be invoked.

There is no need for officials to be risking our food and water supply by 
spreading toxic sewage on farms.  We need to stop this secretive untested 
practice now and hold a Public Inquiry to decide what to do with sludge in 
the future, using proper science and the Precautionary Principle as our 
guide!!!!

There are alternatives to spreading sludge on farmlands as I have learned 
through my research.  Engineers tell us sludge buried on plastic liners in 
modern landfill cells with on-site leachate control will keep us safe for 
200 years.  This is proven technology that has withstood 40 years of 
testing.  Other alternatives; plasma torch, incineration (with little or no 
emissions) and turned into a renewable energy source, there certainly is no 
shortage of sewage is there!!!!

Wendy Deavitt
Trent Hills
Ontario
Canada