Sludge Watch ==> N-Viro in Nova Scotia

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Nova Scotia had a disasterous sludge experience when Halifax sludge was 
trucked out to Inglewood Farms in Lower Truro a few years back.  The 
province came up with some sludge rules, but these regulations are seen as 
inadequate to manage the material.  For the past year, stakeholders have 
been meeting to review Nova Scotia sludge biosolids issues and make 
recommendations for better regulatory policies.

Nothing has changed.

The Province of Nova Scotia intended to require that Halifax sludge, treated 
through N-Viro technology, be certified as in compliance with the Fertilizer 
Act by requiring a 'letter of no objection' from the federal Fertilizer 
Section of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The sludge material from N-Viro is sewage sludge mixed with cement kiln dust 
from Lafarge Brookfield.  Unfortunately Lafarge Brookfield burns used oil 
and this leaves thallium and other toxic metals in their cement kiln dust.

The N-Viro sludge mix has been in storage through the winter.

Suddenly on Friday before the long weekend, the sewage sludge was sold to 
farmers even though there is no letter from the Federal regulator.

Even though stakeholders say that the Nova Scotia sewage biosolids are 
inadequate to protect farming, the environment and public health - that is 
all that is regulating this sludge.  Indeed, since N-Viro and the province 
and the CFIA all refuse to provide testing results or a fertilizer label: no 
one knows what is in this stuff.  Even Lafarge Brookfield refuses to send a 
Material Safety Data Sheet for their cement kiln dust.

Halifax; sewage sludge is once again on the way to farmland.
Buyer beware.

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


Nova Scotia Food Land - No Place For Sludge Toxins
Commentary - Fred Blois - May 22, 2008

It is important to consider that current waste water treatment plant 
technology was not designed to remove many of the nutrients, estrogenic 
compounds, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products present in waste 
water. Therefore, current technologies may be creating risks of unknown 
magnitude for public health, risks that could last for generations given the 
fact that many of the components found in biosolids are bioaccumulative and 
persistent.

This considered, the public is concerned  that comprehensive testing is not 
required on the biosolids that are now being and are about to be land 
applied in Nova Scotia. Present regulations do not adequately address the 
need to test for the drugs, chemicals, a number of toxic heavy metals, and 
pathogens that are contained in many biosolids, which can pose serious 
detrimental environmental and public health threats. Furthermore, present 
regulations do not consider the potential synergistic and lipophilic effects 
of multiple contaminants that may be contained in the biosolids. Chlorine, 
for example, can combine with natural organic material found in dirt and 
soils to create a variety of carcinogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons, 
including toxins like chloroform and trihalomethanes.  The absence of 
scientific evidence requiring biosolid testing does not mean that there is 
no risk involved in the practice of land applying biosolids, instead it 
shows that there is not enough evidence to deem it a safe practice.

The Halifax Regional Municipality has selected a method that combines an 
equal amount of sewage sludge and cement kiln dust in a patented   process 
to create a biosolid  which is then destined  for disposal on agricultural 
land.
Independent testing of land applied biosolids created by Inglewood Farms and 
having a significant component of HRM sewage sludge in 2004 indicated some 
of the highest levels of
polybrominated diphenyl ethers  (flame retardents) ever recorded in the 
world in addition to a long list of additional contaminants’.
.
Cement Kiln Dust is an industrial waste in the cement industry and as such 
it has the potential to be contaminated with heavy metals and other toxins. 
Samples of CKD sourced from Lafarge’s Pleasant Valley cement plant by 
Department of Environment and Labour (DOEL) staff in 2007, and tested by 
Maxxam Analytics, recorded the presence of 21 heavy metals in these samples. 
   Of particular concern in these samples is the heavy metal Thallium, which 
was recorded at a level of 2.3 parts per million. This level exceeds the 
accepted parameters for contaminated soil in landfills, and yet it is a 
component of biosolids that are being applied to agricultural land and 
subsequently becoming part of our food chain. Thallium has recently been 
identified in milk which was the resultant of agricultural land contaminated 
by sewage sludge in Georgia.

The potential for the presence of both thallium and polybrominated diphenyl 
ethers   in   HRM biosolids  is  problematic for the dairy industry in 
particular as both of these substances are lipophilic. PBDEs present an 
additional concern given the fact they have the ability to cross the 
placental barrier and contaminate newborn children.





The  land application of biosolids is an  issue of immediate concern to the 
public. The Canadian Infectious Disease Society (C.I.D.S.) has called for a 
moratorium on the spreading biosolids across Canada until further studies 
were carried out to determine if the process was safe. Dr. Mark Miller, 
president of C.I.D.S. says:

"C.I.D.S. remains steadfast that the disposal of all bio-materials be done 
in a safe and efficient manner, and that studies be taken to insure that 
current disposal/spreading techniques are safe for
the human population. The fact that certain practices 'have always been done 
like this,' does not mean that they are necessarily safe in the present-day 
context.”

A growing number of scientists are questioning the rationale of land 
application of biosolids.  Ellen Harrison, director of the Cornell Waste 
Management Institute, offers the following opinion:

“Agricultural land is too important to take the chance of spreading sewage 
biosolids from the city.  There are just too many unknowns. Are we prepared 
to have contaminants spread on our soils that will basically be there 
forever? Often times, we just don’t know what the risks are.”

How does the consumer differentiate between food that is grown on land 
treated with biosolids and food that is not? In Nova Scotia, there is no 
means to identify which foods have been exposed to biosolids.   Consumers 
have the right to know  which foods  are the resultant of land applied 
biosolids ,such foods should be labelled accordingly.

Nova Scotia's agricultural economy depends on the public perception that 
foods produced here are pure and grown on land that is free from 
contaminants that are commonly used in industrialized urban areas. If we 
allow the practice of the disposal of biosolids on agricultural
land to continue  consumer confidence will be severely undermined. For the 
sake of public health, as well as that of our agricultural economy, we must 
not allow farmland to be polluted with a “witch's brew,” of unidentified 
materials. A healthy and prosperous farm community is of the utmost 
importance to all Nova Scotians.


Fred F. Blois


''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Chronicle Herald
Halifax Nova Scotia
May 22, 2008

Fertile ground


Since Mayor Kelly has such a superior and inexpensive fertilizer made from 
HRM sewage, I assume that it will be used on all public land in HRM 
including Point Pleasant Park, the Commons, and the Public Gardens. Perhaps 
it should be the only approved fertilizer for private lawns and gardens in 
HRM.

Tourism could promote a sewage tour: 1) Sewage plant in downtown Halifax, 2) 
Biosolids plant near airport 3) Old-fashioned picnic sitting on the grass on 
Citadel Hill.

You cannot beat cheap fertilizer, which is "safe for use on any plant."


Lloyd Burrows, Beaver Bank


http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Search/1057412.html