Sludge Watch ==> The Big Lie Theory and Sewage Sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

There is so little oversight and enforcement of sewage sludge regulations 
that those regulations have become meaningless.

In California : Class B  sludge is certified as Class A - (no enforcement)
- Class A is sludge certified without the required testing (no enforcement)
- testing is done without meeting the testing requirements (no enforcement) 
and
- the requirement to grow a crop isn't met (no enforcement) and
-odour and vector (flies) are out of control (no enforcement).

Then we have no regulations.  We have only the appearance of a regulatory 
system.

There are  two meanings of the word oversight.
We think think it means one thing:
"watchful and responsible care"
and the regulators think it means the other:
"an inadvertent omission or error"

Webster says:
Main Entry: over·sight
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 a: watchful and responsible care b: regulatory supervision
2: an inadvertent omission or error




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

March 21, 2008
The big lie theory and sewage sludge
Desert Dispatch Letters to the Editor
Barstow California


In our continuing battle against the sewage dump outside of Hinkley we have 
been fighting the idea of the Big Lie Theory. The Big Lie Theory was first 
put across by Hitler in "Mein Kampf." Basically it is a lie so huge and told 
so often that people tend to believe it. Think of the Bush regime's 
assertion that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a prime 
example.

The two Big Lies that we are fighting are:

1) that sewage sludge is safe coming out of treatment plants (Nursery 
Products continually says it is safe enough to eat, a laughable assertion);

2) that farmers are clamoring to use the composted sludge for their crops.

Recently a case was ruled in Georgia that exposes those two lies. In 
Augusta, Georgia  a farmer was convinced to take sewage sludge as fertilizer 
with disastrous results. The sludge ruined his land, possibly forever, and 
killed his cows by the hundreds. The judge ruled that the Agriculture 
Department will have to pay the farmer for his losses.

Now for our two lies.

The sewage sludge that the farmer applied to his land was certified Class B, 
in other words, good to be composted for fertilizer and reasonably free of 
bad stuff. When tests were run on samples for the Augusta case it was found 
that a number of heavy metals in the sludge were off the chart, including 
thallium (one time used for rat poison) at 12,000 times the level allowed 
for drinking water. There is also evidence that thallium along with 
molybdenum and cadmium may have made its way into milk. So even if Nursery 
Products says that they will only take Class B sludge, that does not mean 
that is safe. This problem could be alleviated by thorough testing of 
incoming sludge and documentation of where it is coming from, which Nursery 
Products won't do and our guardians of public safety refuse to push them to 
do.

The second big lie is that farmers are clamoring for sewage sludge 
fertilizer. In my studies on the subject I have yet to find a real farmer 
that is willing to use the stuff. A large majority of the "farms" that use 
sewage sludge-based fertilizer are farms in name only. They make their money 
getting paid to spread the stuff and they don't grow anything. A good 
example of this is a "farm" in Newberry Springs that takes sewage sludge 
from Victorville that grows nothing but odor and the ire of its neighbors. 
As the repercussions from the Augusta case spread I believe even the sham 
farms will think twice about spreading toxic goo on fields due to risk of 
lawsuits.

When you hear the boards and appointed guardians of our public safety uphold 
these two big lies remember that when the authorities believe the big lies, 
people get hurt.

Steve Smith
Barstow


http://www.desertdispatch.com/opinion/sludge_2876___article.html/sewage_big.html


For info on the Georgia case....and notes to 'fess up to the lies:

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/NEWS03/803070355