From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 1 14:29:06 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 14:29:06 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> CDC: Excellent background on Swine Flu and 1918 Influenza Pandemic Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: The 'Spanish Influenza' (which started in the USA) infected one third of the world's population and killed about 50 million people. As far as the current swine flu outbreak, we already see person to person transmission in several places in Canada. Read this excellent analysis of the 1918 pandemic...best formatting is on line: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics Jeffery K. Taubenberger* and David M. Morens? *Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rockville, Maryland, USA; and ?National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA Suggested citation for this article The "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918?1919, which caused ?50 million deaths worldwide, remains an ominous warning to public health. Many questions about its origins, its unusual epidemiologic features, and the basis of its pathogenicity remain unanswered. The public health implications of the pandemic therefore remain in doubt even as we now grapple with the feared emergence of a pandemic caused by H5N1 or other virus. However, new information about the 1918 virus is emerging, for example, sequencing of the entire genome from archival autopsy tissues. But, the viral genome alone is unlikely to provide answers to some critical questions. Understanding the 1918 pandemic and its implications for future pandemics requires careful experimentation and in-depth historical analysis. "Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865 An estimated one third of the world's population (or ?500 million persons) were infected and had clinically apparent illnesses (1,2) during the 1918?1919 influenza pandemic. The disease was exceptionally severe. Case-fatality rates were>2.5%, compared to From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 2 10:52:59 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 10:52:59 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Lawrence Alabama Bill Banning Human Waste Fertilizer Passes Senate Message-ID: Lawrence Bill Banning Human Waste Fertilizer Passes Senate Friday, May 01, 2009 (Source: The Decatur Daily)By M.J. Ellington, The Decatur Daily, Ala. May 1--MONTGOMERY -- A Lawrence County bill banning use of fertilizer containing treated human waste cleared the Senate and is on its way to Gov. Bob Riley. The Senate passed Rep. Jody Letson's HB 806 by a vote of 24-0 Thursday afternoon. If the governor signs the bill, voters in Lawrence County must vote to approve the measure in a referendum before it becomes law. Letson, D-Hillsboro, said he was pleased that the bill passed. He introduced the bill after a company spread fertilizer containing treated human and industrial waste from Decatur Utilities on Lawrence County farmland. Tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated the biosolids included high levels of perfluorinated compounds, industrial chemicals used to make Teflon-related products. Decatur Utilities stopped spreading the waste on farms in November, but Letson said the law would assure the practice does not start again in the future. "I am just sorry that those landowners allowed them to put it there," Letson said. "At first people were concerned that the fertilizer was coming from New York, then they found out the company was getting sludge from the next county," he said. People living near Flint Creek petitioned Letson, asking him to prohibit use of the sludge on area farms. He said they were concerned about foul odor, possible toxic waste and runoff contamination. Sen. Zeb Little, D-Cullman, who also represents Lawrence County, handled the bill in the Senate. Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, who also represents Lawrence County, proposed similar legislation for Franklin County. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 2 10:59:59 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 10:59:59 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Paper sludge and sewage sludge Maine - neurological problems reported Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: This tragic situation is being repeated all over North America. Right now , a kilometer long paper sludge berm is proposed at the St Thomas Dragway in Ontario, also over sandy soil where people are using groundwater wells. The sandy soil, as in the story below, allows leachate from the decomposing sludge to enter drinking water. First: don't drink the groundwater. The State should provide clean drinking water to residents. The contaminants that can enter groundwater from these kind of sludges are many...so there should be testing of groundwater and leachate for metals, Volatile Organics, pesticides, bacteria, and all the elements in a drinking water test. Paper sludge and sewage sludge is often mixed with 'sludge conditioner' to make it easier to transport. Many of these are based on polyacrilamide polymers. The polymers used for wastes are not the same quality as those used in drinking water systems. The waste polymers have a higher percentage of residual acrylamide monomer in them. Acrylamide monomer moves easily into groundwater as it is a surfactant. It is a neurotoxin and may be responsible for the neurological symptoms in the story below. For more on acrylamide monomer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide http://www.npi.gov.au/database/substance-info/profiles/5.html ........................................................................................... http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/105073.html East Sangerville?s troubled water By Diana Bowley BDN Staff BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY GABOR DEGRE East Sangerville residents meet at the farm owned by Brian Campbell (right) to talk about a gravel pit in town that was partially filled with paper mill sludge and sewage more than 10 years ago. Now, several people in the area say they have high levels of lead in their bodies, and are noticing memory problems and sleeping disorders. They want the state to test their wells and the groundwater at the gravel pit for contaminants. SANGERVILLE, Maine ? Several East Sangerville residents are worried that the memory problems, muscle disorders and other illnesses they are experiencing could stem from water contaminated by an experimental sludge-spreading operation in their neighborhood that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection authorized in the late 1990s. The Douty Hill Road residents all live within about a mile of Barrett Pit, a gravel pit that had areas filled with paper mill sludge and ash in 1996 and sewage sludge, commercial fertilizer and bioash in 1999. The fact that the materials were deposited in the pit without a liner on a sand and gravel aquifer about 400 feet from Black Stream has residents wondering whether that?s the source of their troubles. At least five area residents have symptoms they believe could be related to their well water. A DEP official said the project initially contaminated groundwater with heavy metals released through chemical reaction but noted that testing showed the contamination later dissipated and there is no way to determine a direct link to residents? health problems. Not until March, when neighbors began talking to one another about their illnesses, did it strike them as odd that they had similar symptoms, including memory and cognitive problems and muscle disorders. Also odd was the fact that most came down with the symptoms about three years ago, the same year groundwater monitoring at the operation ceased. One resident?s water well tested high for lead in December 2008 and medical tests showed two people had elevated concentrations of toxic metals in their urine. ?I think almost every house has had health issues within a mile radius of Black Stream,? Brian Campbell, 48, said in early March during a meeting of eight neighbors who had gathered to discuss the matter. Campbell noted that at least four other residents in the East Sangerville area ? some within the mile radius and others out-side it ? have similar symptoms. There are about 20 homes in the immediate area. ?We think the gravel pit mixture may have affected our health,? he said. DEP issues permits Told of the residents? concerns, Rick Haffner, the DEP?s projects manager, said he doubted the gravel pit had any connection to their symptoms. Because of the health concerns, however, he said the department plans to re-sample the existing wells this month for lead and other heavy metals. Haffner recalled that the original permit for revegetating an area of the pit was issued in 1996 to Kimberly-Clark Corp.?s former Winslow mill. The mill hired New England Organics, or NEO, of Unity and Portland to carry out the project. About 20,000 cubic yards of mill sludge was mixed on-site with sand and a commercial fertilizer to make an artificial topsoil. The permit did not require groundwater monitoring or a liner, Haffner said. After the mill permanently closed in June 1998, the DEP transferred the license in May 1999 to the Anson-Madison Sanitary District. The district hired NEO to fill another gravel pit plot with an experimental mixture of sewage sludge, commercial fertilizer and bioash from the Madison area. About 2,400 cubic yards of sanitary district sludge was applied in the late fall of 1999. While the district?s permit required no liner, it did require monitoring wells because the district treated sanitary wastewater, in addition to industrial wastewater from Madison Paper Co. When the test wells were installed, it was discovered that the paper mill sludge from the earlier project had been applied excessively, Haffner said. He said NEO was ordered to remove some of the material but did so before it received official written approval. The DEP directed the sanitary district to return and assess the layers of materials on both areas, which NEO did. A letter of warning was issued to the district but no fines were levied, Haffner said. Resident and contractor Gerald Jackson was hired by NEO to do the remediation work. He recalled that some of the paper mill sludge was more than 2 feet thick in places when it should have been 6 to 8 inches. This prompted town officials in Sangerville to notify the DEP by letter in 2001 that they were concerned about the water quality and the excess spreading at the pit. The officials also worried that additional dumping before the monitoring was concluded could further compromise water quality. In a letter, the DEP assured the town it was monitoring the project. ?This was done as a research project with the cooperation of the DEP. There was nothing shady about it, and I think we proved there was no long-lasting impact,? James Ecker, NEO general manager, said this week. The groundwater improved enough to discontinue the monitoring and the project demonstrated the long-term benefits of revegetating this kind of ?disturbed? land, he said. The experimental mixture was of interest to the DEP because it was a beneficial use of short paper fiber and reduced or eliminated the need to strip topsoil, said Dick Behr, DEP?s project engineer. ?We wanted to try to see what would happen when we used a combination of paper mill sludge and a commercial product that was actually a biosolid from a wastewater treatment plant,? he recalled recently. It would not have been economical to require a liner, he said. Similar manufactured topsoil remediation projects have been carried out in Maine, including on a field in Leeds, as well as throughout the country, Haffner said. He wasn?t sure whether any other Maine projects were completed over sand and gravel aquifers. Ecker confirmed that while other similar projects have been conducted, the composition was not exactly the same as that used at the pit, which he said was a relatively small project. He said all mixtures must be approved by the DEP. ?You just can?t go out and spread anything you want. It?s never been that way,? he said. Behr said the DEP was most concerned initially about the leaching of nitrogen-containing compounds at the pit. What happened instead is that there was significant leaching of organic material, which changed the geochemistry of the site. The monitoring showed that over time, levels of arsenic went up and levels of dissolved oxygen went down. The project also released a lot of iron and manganese during the spreading of the biosolid, Behr said. ?We know that when those geochemical conditions are created, it can release the naturally occurring arsenic, iron and manganese,? he said. The elevated levels of iron, manganese and arsenic are believed to have come from the natural aquifer system, he said, although he didn?t rule out the possibility that some of it came from the mixture itself. John M. Peckenham, director of the Maine Water Resources Research Institute, who was a consultant for New England Organics around 2004 when discussions were held about Barrett Pit, said the material used to reclaim the pit released compounds that, along with the action of native bacteria, consumed all of the available oxygen in the groundwater. This in turn, caused arsenic, iron and manganese to become soluble and mobile in the groundwater. Monitoring ceased in 2006, when the groundwater started to recover and the DEP felt no more useful information could be gained, according to Haffner. Residents? health problems Around that same time, Campbell and his neighbors found their health failing. Campbell suffered from memory problems and muscle pains, leading to an initial diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. A neighbor, Gerald Jackson?s wife, Regina, 67, complained of similar problems. Arnold Chase, who died in October at age 69, began suffering from dementia about three years ago, said his widow, Dyann. The couple had moved to Sangerville about eight years ago. ?He never had any problem with dementia until after we moved up here,? Chase said of her late husband, who also had emphysema. There were no mental problems in his family history, she added. ?Why did he come down with it at the same time others did on the road?? she asked. Chase said her husband had blamed his mili-tary service for his health problems. Edward Palin, 61, who has lived in East Sangerville for 16 years and has memory and cognitive problems, also blamed them on his military service until he learned the plight of others in the neighborhood. He has no family history of mental problems. ?There?s just too many people in the area that have the same symptoms,? Palin said. After months of doctoring, extensive testing and different diagnoses, Campbell visited Dr. Sean McCloy at Maine Integrative Wellness in South Portland. McCloy has served as a commentator on ?Mystery ER,? a Discovery Channel Health Network program. Campbell learned from McCloy that he did not have MS but had elevated levels of lead in his urine. His level was 6.6 micrograms per gram when the acceptable range is 5 micrograms per gram, he said. He was treated and his symptoms disappeared. Campbell persuaded Regina Jackson to see McCloy, and tests showed her lead level at 12 micrograms per gram. She also had an elevated level of mercury: 11 micrograms per gram compared to an acceptable range of 4 micrograms per gram. Like Campbell, her symptoms subsided after treatment. Contacted by telephone last month, McCloy said he found it unusual that several residents in the same neighborhood would have similar health problems. He said the symptoms could be consistent with arsenic, lead and manganese in the body. ?All these different heavy metals are toxic to the brain; they?re called toxic heavy metals for that very reason,? McCloy said. The heavy metals can induce a condition called toxic encephalopathy, or damage to the central nervous system, according to McCloy. The symptoms of toxic encephalopathy depend on the individual, McCloy said. Some people might have very subtle symptoms such as mild fatigue and headaches, or more serious symptoms, including memory loss, ringing in the ears, nerve pains, muscle aches and pains, or weakness, he said. Some have more systemic symp-toms ? such as nausea, diarrhea, constipation and rashes ? and sometimes an autoimmune condition develops later, he noted. Others go on to develop exquisite sensitivity to other kinds of chemicals, he said. ?The elevated concentrations of compounds such as arsenic, lead and mercury are certainly a cause of concern,? Peckenham said. The likely sources of exposure to toxic metals are food, water and the workplace, he said. Since the concern here is water, he said there are three possibilities for the exposure: Some of the metals could be occurring naturally in the rock and the exposures are wholly unrelated to the gravel pit reclamation; the water recharging the bedrock and the wells was affected by the gravel pit mixture and caused some metals to become more mobile; or the gravel pit project directly contaminated the wells. Water not tested for lead Haffner said lead was not one of the metals tested in the groundwater at the gravel pit because it was not a matter of concern. ?Lead is not that mobile in soil or groundwater ? it?s not normally bound up in any of that natural soil film complex with iron and manganese and the other minerals normally,? he said. ?I would be real surprised if that project was responsible for lead getting into people?s wells.? Behr agreed. One of the likelier sources of lead is from the plumbing itself because lead rarely moves very far in groundwater even when a site has contaminants that are leaching from the waste into it, he said. Conditions have to be just right for the lead to stay in the water, he said. The Jacksons? home was built in 1995 with water pipes made with nonlead solder. Campbell lives on his family?s old homestead. While Campbell has not had his well tested, the Jacksons? well tested high for lead. The test result for lead should have been less than 0.5 parts per billion but came back 3.2 parts per billion, accord-ing to Gerald Jackson, 69, who said the water was tested by an accredited laboratory. All other tests conducted on his well water were within the acceptable level, he said. Jackson used to drink the well water before he installed an osmosis system to rid it of lead, and he suspected his body had a way to eliminate lead since he had none of the symptoms. Palin and Chase have not tested their wells. ?I think the state should test all these wells within a mile radius of the gravel pit, Black Stream and the gravel pit,? Campbell said. Jackson added that the DEP also should check Black Stream to see whether there is surface runoff contamination since the gravel pit area has washed out in heavy rainstorms. Even with further testing, it would be difficult to establish a connection, according to Peckenham. ?Linking environmental conditions to human health is difficult because there are many variables and the path from cause to effect is often hard to discover,? Peckenham said. Added complications in this situation include the lack of background water quality measurements and an understanding of other factors that can affect a person?s health, such as diet, genetics, housing and work exposure, he said. Other sources to blame? The fact the East Sangerville area has significant agricultural activity could change water quality, according to Behr. For example, he noted Greenville Steam Co. has been permitted to spread wood ash on some acreage in the area. ?I?m not telling you there?s any impact from the agriculture activity, but that?s the first thing that jumps out at me,? Behr said. ?By no means do I tell you this to downplay that this permitted activity caused groundwater contamination. I?m not denying that.? Ecker said his firm had applied wood ash in the area with the DEP?s approval. He said wood ash has been land-applied for more than 25 years with no problems. ?It?s a long-standing, successful recycling program,? he said. Behr said there are many influences on the quality of groundwater, which generally flows from the southwest to the northeast toward Black Stream and on to the Piscataquis River. The residents? homes are located mostly to the east of the gravel pit. ?When we know the water is moving towards that brook, it?s extremely unlikely there is any relationship between the gravel pit reclamation activity and the water that they would draw from their water supply,? Behr said. ?It seems like a long shot.? Greg Stewart, data section chief for the United States Geological Survey in Maine, said basic physics shows that water flows downward. There is no way to know, however, whether a fracture sends water another direction when it reaches bedrock, he said. There are no maps to show accurately how the groundwater flows since it is so complicated, he noted. Stewart said layers of clay and different sediment types can cause changes in the flow and how groundwater is affected. He said toxins, if they are involved, can change depending on the concentration. Some could be trapped in the subsurface and bond to the soil and others could change with oxygen. ?It?s unlikely there?s major problems if they did the science right and they followed their standard procedures. It?s not that likely that they?re going to make gross mistakes,? Stewart said. Peckenham said groundwater in rock flows in fractures that control its direction. ?On a large scale, groundwater tends to flow in parallel with the slope of the land surface; on a small scale groundwater can move along a very twisted course,? he said. He suggested testing is needed to map how groundwater connects to the local wells. Campbell said he doesn?t like the speculation; he wants the DEP to retest the pit, and test the private wells in the area and Black Stream. That?s a good idea, according to McCloy. ?I do think it?s very curious that this small group, [a] geologically close group of people, would all develop very similar symptoms especially in close proximity to that gravel pit, so I definitely think either the state or an environmental consulting firm should do some testing.? Peckenham also thought the situation is troubling. He recommended that all drinking water wells within half a mile of the pit be tested and that anyone with unsafe water use bottled water for drinking and cooking. For Campbell, who grew up in the area and had no major health concerns before 2006-2007, the gravel pit seems to be the likely source. ?I believe this needs to be researched and brought to conclusion in order to protect the health of the residents and future generations,? he said. Not registered? Click here E-mail this Print this From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 2 11:01:16 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 11:01:16 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Pulp Non Fiction USA - papermills burn sludge with diesel to get fuel tax credit of $1 Billion per year Message-ID: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090420/hayes The Nation Law & Justice White-Collar Crime Pulp Nonfiction 100 Days By Christopher Hayes This article appeared in the April 20, 2009 edition of The Nation. April 2, 2009 Thanks to an obscure tax provision, the United States government stands to pay out as much as $8 billion this year to the ten largest paper companies. And get this: even though the money comes from a transportation bill whose manifest intent was to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, paper mills are adding diesel fuel to a process that requires none in order to qualify for the tax credit. In other words, we are paying the industry--handsomely--to use more fossil fuel. "Which is," as a Goldman Sachs report archly noted, the "opposite of what lawmakers likely had in mind when the tax credit was established." The massive tax subsidy has barely been reported in the press, but it's caused a stir in the paper industry, which is struggling to stay profitable in the teeth of the recession. "Everybody's talking about it," paper industry analyst Brian McClay told me. "In the US and elsewhere in the world--in Canada and Brazil and Chile and Europe." On March 24 International Paper (IP) announced it had received its first check from the IRS for a one-month period this past fall. The total? A whopping $71.6 million. "It's probably close to a billion a year of cash," McClay said. "If you look at the economics of this business, to make that kind of money today you'd have to be on another planet." IP's stock rose 12 per- cent on the news. The origins of the credit are innocent enough. In 2005 Congress passed, and George W. Bush signed, the $244 billion transportation bill. It included a variety of tax credits for alternative fuels such as ethanol and biomass. But it also included a fifty-cent-a-gallon credit for the use of fuel mixtures that combined "alternative fuel" with a "taxable fuel" such as diesel or gasoline. Enter the paper industry. Since the 1930s the overwhelming majority of paper mills have employed what's called the kraft process to produce paper. Here's how it works. Wood chips are cooked in a chemical solution to separate the cellulose fibers, which are used to make paper, from the other organic material in wood. The remaining liquid, a sludge containing lignin (the structural glue that binds plant cells together), is called black liquor. Because it's so rich in carbon, black liquor is a good fuel; the kraft process uses the black liquor to produce the heat and energy necessary to transform pulp into paper. It's a neat, efficient process that's cost-effective without any government subsidy. "Seventy-three percent of the energy we use in our mill system we produce," says Ann Wrobleski, IP's vice president for global government relations. "We feel like we're the original green industry, if you will." (In developed nations, paper is the third-largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, behind the steel and chemical industries.) By adding diesel fuel to the black liquor, paper companies produce a mixture that qualifies for the mixed-fuel tax credit, allowing them to burn "black liquor into gold," as a JPMorgan report put it. It's unclear who first came up with the idea--Wrobleski told me it was "outside consultants"--but at some point last fall IP and Verso, another paper company, formerly a part of IP, began adding diesel to its black liquor and applied to the IRS for the credit. (Verso nabbed $29.7 million at just one of its mills in the final quarter of 2008 for its use of mixed fuel.) Despite the obvious contrivance of the procedure, Wrobleski is unapologetic: "The credit is supposed to encourage the use of green fuel." Sure, I said, but isn't it a bit weird you're now adding diesel fuel to the process in order to take advantage of it? "It is what it is," she said. Others are less charitable. "You use the toilet every day," said one hedge fund analyst who's been closely following the issue. "Imagine if you could start pouring a little gasoline into the bowl and get fifty cents a gallon every time you flushed." No one in Congress seems to have anticipated this creative maneuver. This past fall the Joint Committee on Taxation computed the cost of extending the tax credit for three months and projected it would cost a manageable $61 million. It now appears that the extension (which was passed as part of the TARP) could cost as much as $2 billion before the credits expire at the end of this calendar year. In fact, the money to be gained from exploiting the tax credit so dwarfs the money to be made in making paper--IP lost $452 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 alone--that the ultimate result of the credit will likely be to push paper prices down as mills churn at full capacity in order to grab as much money from the IRS as it can. If there's a cloud hanging over the elation in the industry, it's the sneaking suspicion that once Congress gets wind of this racket, it will shut it down. "The one comment I do get from people [in the paper industry]," says McClay, "is whether it's going to be rescinded or redrawn before the end game." Investment analysts echo this concern. "We think there is some question as to whether this tax incentive survives to yr-end," a Deutsche Bank analyst wrote recently. "Most industry leaders would like to keep a low profile on this issue. Unfortunately, we think it is a material enough issue that it will draw attention." So far, though, to the surprise of McClay and others, there's been not a peep from Capitol Hill. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and director of its paper industry reform project, told me the industry wields significant clout in Washington and has benefited from myriad federal subsidies throughout its history, but that "this is really a perverse exploitation at the expense of the environment." I called up the Senate Finance Committee, and a staffer told me they were "aware of the issue, and are talking with the IRS about the technical details. The committee intended the credit to be primarily for transportation fuel and plans to closely review the situation." Whether or not Congress gets around to turning off the spigot, the episode is a useful reminder of the persistently ingenious ways the private sector can exploit even well-intentioned legislation. Considering that the success of the Treasury's recently announced plan to rescue the financial sector depends, in part, on the private sector not gaming the rules, the black liquor story seems particularly germane. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 2 15:19:42 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 15:19:42 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Ontario Communities Opposed to New Sludge Rules Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: People can still tell Ontario Premier McGuinty and Environment Minister Gerretson what they think of Ontario's plan to relieve sludge haulers (paper sludge and sewage sludge) from the obligation to get waste permits called 'Certificates of Approval' from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment IF the sludge is to be spread on farmfields. If the very same sludge is going to landfill, or as biomass fuel, or to storage, or to incineration it would continue to need waste permits. Sludges are wastes and need to be regulated as waste. It doesn't make sense to deregulate sludge when its disposed of in the most dangerous way: land application on the food lands of Ontario. The Ontario government plans to spell out the proposed legislation by the end of the year. And although they say they are consulting about the sludge plans..they have refused invitations to address public meetings on the topic. The public doesn't want to eat food grown on sludge. They don't want to drink milk from cows grazed on sludge. They don't want to drink groundwater near lands spread with sludge. This expensive dangerous deliberate contamination of our food and farmland should stop. See the EBR posting Number 010-1436 http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTAxNDMy&statusId=MTUxNjMz&language=en Write to the Minister of the Environment: www.ene.gov.on.ca/feedback/email_minister.php And the Waste Management Policy Branch Director: John.Vidan at ontario.ca ..................................................................... http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ikLo-NdNt2IMQhnpfyd1I5dvRzQA Communities opposed to new sludge rules May 2, 2009 OTTAWA ? Some communities and environmental groups are crying foul over Ontario's plan to allow sewage sludge to be spread on farmers' fields without a waste-disposal permit. Maureen Reilly of the group SludgeWatch says new regulations would treat sludge as a beneficial nutrient when it's applied to crops - but as a potentially hazardous waste when used for other things such as biofuel. "You put this waste in a truck and send it to a field and suddenly it's not a waste," she said. "How does that make any sense?" About 120,000 tonnes of sludge are used as fertilizer on the province's farms every year. Under proposed regulations expected to become law by the end of the year, companies that transport and spread the sludge would no longer be required to obtain certification under the province's Environmental Protection Act. The certificates identify who is authorized to spread sludge and where, and are available for the public to view. Eileen Smith, a waste-management policy manager for Ontario's Environment Ministry, said the new regulations will mean higher standards for the levels of nutrients sludge must have before it can be used as a fertilizer. Currently, certificates are granted on a case-by-case basis under a set of non-binding guidelines. Under the proposed regulations, the licensing standards for farmers and sludge-spreading companies will be covered by the same set of legally binding rules, Smith said. "It will be clearer that everything has to meet those standards." A second draft of the regulations, still to be posted on the ministry's website, will incorporate feedback received from interested parties, Smith said. But a number of municipal councils have passed resolutions saying without waste-disposal certificates, there will be no way to find out who plans to spread sludge, where they plan to spread it, and how much. They're also concerned that penalties for violations will be weaker than those under the Environmental Protection Act. Brian Treble, director of planning for the Township of West Lincoln, said he was told the province would take his concerns into consideration. But he says the province did not give details about what, if anything, they would change. "We've had no detailed reply in any way that talked about what they were going to do, or how they were going to address our concerns, or anything," he said. SludgeWatch, a member of the Ontario Environment Network, also sent detailed feedback about the proposed regulations to the province. Reilly, who wrote the brief, said the regulations would result in harm to human health and the environment if passed. "We will see more spills of sludge, more over-application, more groundwater and surface contamination," she said. "And we won't know what caused it since the enforcement and report mechanisms will be weakened." Terratec Environmental Ltd., the biggest sewage sludge transporter and spreader in Ontario, has been convicted of environmental offences more than 40 times. All but one of the convictions were under the Environmental Protection Act, legislation that would no longer regulate sludge under the new rules. Terratec did not respond to requests for comment. An expert panel convened by the province in 2005 recommended that companies transporting and spreading sludge continue to require waste-disposal certificates. Municipalities and private companies in Ontario have been recycling sewage, wood, paper and other organic wastes for farmers to use as fertilizer for over 30 years. The Ontario government, some municipalities and companies in the business say the practice has many benefits. Towns and cities don't have to figure out what to do with the waste; it stays out of landfills and waterways; and farmers get a free source of fertilizer. But environmental and public-health critics say not enough is known about the risks. Industrial and medical waste, motor oil, and drugs are just a few things that end up in sewer systems. Sludge generally has a significantly higher heavy metal content than conventional fertilizer, and pathogens such as E. coli and Listeria regularly turn up in samples. Some major companies like Del Monte and Campbell will not use food grown in fields spread with sludge. No one is sure what effect these toxins have on human health. Many studies have examined toxin levels in sludge, but no one has systematically investigated complaints from people who say it has made them sick. The Canadian Infectious Disease Institute and the National Farmers Union have called for a stop to the use of sludge as fertilizer until more is known about its health effects. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 3 19:50:18 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 19:50:18 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Missouri law let question of tannery chromium farm sludge risk lie fallow Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: The EPA removed chromium as a tested or regulated parameter in US sludge rules (Part 503) since they insisted the chromium was likely to be Chromium III rather than the more toxic Chromium VI. However, there is are conditions that convert Chromium III to Chromium IV. They removed it as a parameter in both land applied sewage sludge and from the hazardous characterists in leather tanning wastes in a TCLP. Industry had its way in removing the government role in managing these wastes. We see the price paid by the environment and the public health. Many sludge worker and residents near sludge site get rashes on oncovered skin. This may be caused by airborne exposure to chromium from the sludges. Respiratory problems result as well. See: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic-chart-elements/cr-en.htm This is a very important situation to follow. Stay tuned. .......................................................... http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1175456.html Sat, May. 02, 2009 Missouri law let question of farm sludge risk lie fallow By KAREN DILLON The Kansas City Star Here?s a question you hear a lot in northwest Missouri ever since a lawsuit claimed contaminated sludge was spread for years on farmland: Where had the government inspectors been? Lost, it turns out, down a bureaucratic hole. The lawsuit, filed recently, alleged that a St. Joseph tannery had allowed sludge containing a carcinogen to be used as fertilizer on fields in four counties, causing brain tumors in at least two patients. Because of a state law, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has not been sampling the contents of the sludge ? the waste from the tanning process. That is because the law allowed officials years ago to declare the sludge a fertilizer. As a result, that left most of the responsibility for regulating the sludge to the University of Missouri ? but only as a fertilizer, not as a hazardous waste. Contacted Friday, state Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields said he planned to contact the Senate general counsel to review the law. In the meantime, he is waiting for the results of several investigations into the lawsuit?s claims. ?Clearly, if we need to revise the statutes or work with the department in terms of how they regulate the material, that is an appropriate discussion by all means,? said Shields, a St. Joseph Republican. An author who has written about hazardous sludge and government policy said the northwest Missouri case raised red flags about oversight. The tannery that provided the sludge was allowed to ?just put it out of sight, out of mind on rural farm fields,? said John Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit that tries to expose corporate and government spin. DNR officials would not discuss the oversight process, citing an investigation into the sludge allegations. But DNR records, reviewed by The Kansas City Star, showed the agency?s environmental specialists have noted that they have been restricted in their inspections of the sludge. For example, an investigation in 2006 into complaints about possible water pollution from the sludge caused a DNR environmental specialist to write in an e-mail: ?There is not a lot left to regulate unless the sludge (fertilizer) enters ?waters of the state.??? The sludge case came to light when National Beef Leathers, formerly Prime Tanning of St. Joseph, was sued in Clinton County Circuit Court for allegedly putting sludge that contained hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, on farm fields for decades. Prime Tanning, owner of the tannery until March 9, has said there was no basis for the allegations, but declined to comment further. National Beef Leathers said that since it took over the tannery, it has used only trivalent chromium, a non-carcinogen. Getting a pass Under state law, sludge can be classified as fertilizer if it doesn?t contain levels of hazardous waste that exceed state standards. In the case of the St. Joseph tannery, the DNR classified the sludge as fertilizer after the tannery in 1998 submitted a required report on whether hexavalent chromium was at acceptable levels, according to agency records. According to a letter on file from the tannery, it was using only trivalent chromium. Once the sludge received an exemption and was classified as a fertilizer, it was monitored by the University of Missouri?s agriculture fertilizer services for materials such as nitrogen and potassium, but not for hexavalent chromium. Still, the DNR required an annual report from the tannery that listed farms where the sludge was spread and the total pounds of all chromium without delineating the type. DNR officials would not discuss their file on the tannery or allow employees who wrote reports or e-mails in the file to talk to a reporter. As a result, it remains unclear when the DNR granted the exemption. Since the lawsuit was filed, a DNR spokeswoman said, officials have been analyzing the reports and e-mails. Until the analysis is complete, officials have no comment, said Susanne Medley, a DNR spokeswoman. Environmental Protection Agency officials said that only the DNR can answer questions about the exemption. The Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Missouri is responsible for enforcing the state?s fertilizer laws. Joe Slater, director of fertilizer services, could not remember how long his agency had been monitoring the tannery?s sludge. He referred all other questions to the DNR. It is not unusual for tanneries to offer sludge for fertilizer, which is cheaper than sending it to a landfill, and the St. Joseph tannery was doing that even before receiving the exemption. The tannery had its sludge analyzed ? including for chromium ? in the early 1980s. After providing that evaluation to the DNR, the tannery received approval to deposit the sludge in a landfill, according to DNR records. By 1983, the tannery also began spreading the sludge on farmland, according to a tannery report in DNR files. By the 1990s, the tannery had spread the sludge over 10,000 acres of farmland in the St. Joseph area, a tannery document said. It was producing about 9,000 to 11,000 tons of sludge annually while processing about 2.5 million hides each year, the report said. ?Indeed it is Prime Tanning?s policy to be an environmentally responsible member of the community and to recycle as much of its by-product materials as is economically and environmentally feasible,? the document said. Complaints filed Over the years, DNR has received numerous complaints about the tannery sludge because of odors and concerns about what it might contain. But it appears the DNR never sampled it for hazardous waste. In 2004, a state trooper called DNR to report that trucks hauling the sludge were leaking it on roads. People had complained they had been sprayed by the liquid, and the trooper was concerned that the sludge might contain hazardous waste. The trooper cited the trucking company, but wondered in a report to DNR whether the agency could do more. The DNR scheduled an inspection of the tannery, according to agency e-mails, but a DNR manager said an inspector would just ?eyeball? the materials in the tannery to try to ensure none were hazardous waste, according to the e-mails. The inspector saw no hazardous waste. Two years later, concerns were raised that sludge in a holding area near Maysville could spill over during a rainstorm and end up in a farm pond. A caller complained that the sludge might contain mercury and lead. Again, a DNR employee noted the sludge had been classified as fertilizer. ?Unless we see the sludge running into the lake I do not see anything that can be done at this time,? wrote environmental specialist Joe Heafner. Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy said such muddles were not unusual. Using tannery sludge as fertilizer has been a hard-fought battle in other parts of the U.S. and around the world among government officials, the tanning industry and activists who believe the sludge should be put in landfills. Because of lax regulations, federal and state regulators have given tanneries and municipalities a ?thumbs-up? to spreading all kinds of waste on farmland, said Stauber, co-author of the book ?Toxic Sludge is Good for You!? ?Letting the tannery do this is outrageous but not that unusual,? he said. ?This has become a very easy way for these bureaucracies to save money, avoid doing work and allow industry to take who knows what where because there is no effective monitoring.? Waldo Kallenberger, a leather chemist and an expert in the tanning industry, said today?s tanners protect the environment and only use the safe form of chromium. They have lobbied hard for exemptions such as Prime Tanning?s, and deserve them, he said. ?The industry is always besieged with lawsuits, but they are all bs,? Kallenberger said. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 3 20:52:55 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 20:52:55 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Swine flu strikes 220 pigs in Alberta Canada mega barn Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Swine flu in a pig barn. Oh, are we not supposed to call it 'Swine Flu' anymore..even when swine get it? What we learned from the Toronto SARS outbreak is that when SARS impacted tourism, the Public Health Department when from telling people to stay home and stay away from public places to having Public Health endorse a rock concert. And as you might expect, when public relations was more important than public health to the Public Health Department - the Toronto SARS outbreak pronounced prematurely to be over, broke into a lethal second phase. The concert went ahead while SARS patients died in their beds. And while everyone worried about the virus spread through coughing or sneezing, Ontario was allowing the spread of both Toronto's sewage sludge and the septic tank pumpout of human feces...both routes of transmission for the SARS corona virus. http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/music/clips/10604/ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1057532873581_6// Must read background literature: Ibsen: An Enemy of the People http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/enemyofthepeople/summary.html ........................................................ http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOCNS_KUIXJQ6YeBf31nkGFvTrNQ May 3, 2009 Discovery of new swine flu in Alta. pigs raises spectre that worries experts The discovery of the new swine flu in pigs on an Alberta farm raises a spectre that worries influenza experts: the possibility of the virus moving back and forth between humans and pigs, giving it more chances to mutate along the way. About 220 pigs in a herd of 2,200 began showing signs of the flu April 24, Canadian officials revealed over the weekend. A farmhand who travelled to Mexico and fell ill upon his return is believed to have infected the pigs with the H1N1 influenza virus. While the development did not come as a surprise to the World Health Organization or other experts, they expressed concern. "We expected that at some point since this virus has swine virus elements that we would find possibly the virus in swine pigs in the region where the virus is circulating," Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety scientist, said Sunday from Geneva. Measures should be taken to prevent further human exposure to sick animals because of a risk people around the pigs could become infected, Embarek said. "It has happened in the past with classical swine influenza," he said. Dr. Ruben Donis, head of the molecular genetics branch of the influenza division at the US Centers for Disease Control, said the movement of a virus from one species to another creates more opportunities for mutations. While it isn't a given that any changes in the virus would mean it becomes more virulent - causes more severe disease - that cannot be ruled out, he said. "It's possible," Donis said in an interview from Atlanta. "We have to consider all options." Donis was especially concerned about the virus getting seeded in pig populations on small farms that don't have the same level of biosecurity as larger operations. Another worker on the Alberta farm subsequently fell ill, but it's not yet known if that person caught the swine flu. The herd in central Alberta has been quarantined, and all of the pigs are recovering or have recovered. The farm worker has also recovered. Meanwhile, Mexico's health secretary declared the swine flu outbreak to be declining in his country, though health officials warned against complacency in combatting the spread of the disease. There are no recommendations at this point from various agencies to cull pigs in Alberta or anywhere in the world, Embarek said. He reassured the public that the virus is not a food-borne disease, saying there is no reason to be afraid of consuming pork products. In Egypt police and armoured cars charged into a crowd of a 1,000 irate pig farmers armed with stones and bottles Sunday. Twelve people were injured as residents of a Cairo slum resisted government efforts to slaughter the nation's pigs to guard against swine flu. Dr. Christopher Olsen, a swine flu expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said having this H1N1 influenza A virus go back into swine creates opportunities for it to pick up genetic mutations or swap genes with other flu viruses. The latter process is called reassortment. "Putting it back into pigs creates more potential for genetic reassortment than in people alone," he said from Madison, Wis. Canada's swine flu caseload swelled Sunday to 101 after health officials in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia reported new confirmed cases. Worldwide the WHO confirmed 787 cases in 17 countries. But even as the tally of people infected with swine flu continued to rise Sunday - at least six other countries reported new cases - Mexico's health secretary said the swine flu epidemic in his country "is now in its declining phase." Jose Angel Cordova said data suggest the epidemic peaked sometime between April 23 and April 28, and that drastic measures - closing the nation's schools, shuttering most of its businesses and banning mass public gatherings - apparently have helped curb the flu's spread. But Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman for epidemic and pandemic diseases, cautioned against any premature declarations. "That might be certainly what the current epidemiology is showing," he said from Geneva in response to Cordova's comments. "I also would like to remind people that in 1918 the Spanish flu showed a surge in the spring and then disappeared in the summer months, only to return in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance." It is estimated that upwards of 50 million people died in that pandemic. Hartl said there is a "high possibility" this H1N1 influenza A virus will come back in colder periods. "Maybe this current round of activity has peaked, but really, we are only 10 days into the outbreak so we must wait and see," he said. The death toll in Mexico remains at 19, and the number of confirmed cases has increased slightly, from 473 to 506. Cordova said 12 of the dead were between 21 and 40 - unusual ages for people to die of the flu because they tend to have stronger immune systems. Three of the dead were children: a nine-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, said Pablo Kuri, a Mexican epidemiologist and adviser to Cordova. Four were older than 60. Although most of the dead were from the Mexico City area, they came from different neighbourhoods in the metropolis of 20 million, and there were no similarities linking their medical backgrounds. One theory for the deaths is that perhaps they sought treatment too late - falling sick an average of seven days before seeing a doctor. Many of the sick around the world were people who had recently visited Mexico. In China more than 70 Mexican travellers were quarantined in hospitals and hotels as part of that country's sweeping anti-swine flu measures. Mexicans were being asked to identify themselves on arriving flights and isolated from other travellers after landing, Jorge Guajardo, the country's ambassador to Beijing said Sunday. Not even the country's diplomats have been immune. The Mexican consul general in the southern city of Guangzhou was briefly held for checks after returning from a Cambodian vacation last week, Guajardo said. - With files from The Associated Press From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 3 22:44:20 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 22:44:20 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> EDITORIAL: Mother Nature Passes Along Humans' Abuse Message-ID: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3215599 EDITORIAL: Mother Nature Passes Along Humans' Abuse Sunday, May 03, 2009 (Source: The Decatur Daily)By The Decatur Daily, Ala. May 3--Going green is something the world must embrace to combat several problems, but doing so means occasionally creating more harm than good. Spreading treated sewage sludge on crop fields and pastures is an excellent example of recycling. But if the sludge contains harmful chemicals, nature can get a sock in the nose. A bill passed the Alabama Legislature last week that will allow Lawrence County voters to decide if they want that practice to continue there. The bill awaits Gov. Bob Riley's signature. A referendum likely will ban the recycling because of what's happened with the Decatur Utilities sludge spread on Lawrence County farms with the owners' permission. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency belatedly found the treated sludge has high levels of perfluorinated compounds that may cause cancer. Nature is man's best friend and can absorb only so much abuse from humans before rebelling, like steering toxic substances into the food chain. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 4 17:14:48 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 17:14:48 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Kansas city Star Editorial on Chromium Contaminated Farm-Spread Sludge Message-ID: http://voices.kansascity.com/node/4476 Company says sludge wasn't toxic, so what's the problem? By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board Missouri?s law on the use of sludge as fertilizer on farmland doesn?t pass the smell test. The state?s lax rules allow private companies to essentially self-report that their sometimes-stinky sludge does not contain hazardous chemicals. That?s not an acceptable way to protect the public. The General Assembly should approve a stricter regulation that would require the Department of Natural Resources to perform its own tests on any sludge sold or offered to farmers as fertilizers. The state?s main environmental agency needs to rely on its own information, not something spoon-fed by a private company. The lack of a tough law has stoked fear in northwest Missouri, where the owner of a tannery is accused of distributing sludge that contained a carcinogen ? hexavalent chromium. In a court case, some families in the area claim the sludge helped cause fatal brain tumors. The state natural resources department and federal Environmental Protection Agency now are scrambling to check out these claims. But if the state had been inspecting the sludge annually, the public would more clearly know whether a threat existed. The tanning company in question told the state more than a decade ago that tests found the sludge was ?a nonhazardous waste.? The tests also reportedly found no detectable amounts of hexavalent chromium. And who paid for the tests? The tanning company, hardly an unbiased source. The legislature should ensure that, in the future, the state is accountable for determining the potential hazards from this kind of sludge. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 5 09:57:22 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 09:57:22 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Tiny Township ON: battle over world's purest water Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Hats off to the people who are battling to protect this pristine water source. We need more water champions like them. I hope to visit Tiny Township soon to sample some of their water. ............................................................ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090504.WATER04ART2147/TPStory/Environment THE ENVIRONMENT The battle over the world's purest water Environmentalists vow to stop a plan to build a garbage dump in Ontario's Tiny Township, famed for water as clean as any on Earth MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT May 4, 2009 ENVIRONMENT REPORTER Groundwater beneath Ontario's Tiny Township has been called the cleanest in the world, as pristine as if it were drawn from ancient ice buried deep in an Arctic glacier. The Ontario government is about to find out whether this super-clean water - found gushing out of artesian wells in a rural, farming area about 120 kilometres north of Toronto - can coexist with a notorious source of contaminants: a garbage dump. If all goes according to plan, some time this year trucks will begin dumping municipal trash into a provincially approved landfill atop the unspoiled water, which won its reputation as the cleanest in the world after testing at a German university in 2006 found that samples had some of the lowest levels of trace metals ever observed. Print Edition - Section Front Enlarge Image More Stories Green dreams, unplugged The province says the location of the dump is nothing to worry about, but Ontario's Environmental Commissioner is decrying the selection of the site. So are prominent conservationists, including Maude Barlow, the UN's water adviser and head of the Council of Canadians, who calls the dump a "travesty." She has vowed to "sit in front of bulldozers if necessary" to stop it. Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May also wants the dump shelved. The presence of bountiful amounts of water is one of the reasons the site is attractive for a dump. There is so much hydraulic pressure under the proposed landfill that clean water will tend to naturally seep into the dump pit. The landfill will be equipped with pipes to collect any seepage, which will be trucked to a sewage plant for treatment because it will be contaminated with garbage residues. The design is thought to be an improvement over dumps that leak into the surrounding groundwater. Although a landfill designed to have water leak into it sounds counterintuitive, it is becoming common and has received the blessing of Ontario's Environment Ministry. The ministry and Simcoe County, which will operate the site, both insist it won't pose a risk. "This site, when we build it, will be the most protective site in the county," said Rob McCullough, Simcoe County's director of environmental services. The site sits over thick clay, which is an added defence against groundwater contamination, and it will have a plastic liner, another barrier. Even before the chance discovery that it lies above unusually pure water, the dump had become one of the longest-running and strangest environmental disputes in Canada. The Tiny Township site was selected in the mid-1980s, when municipalities in northern Simcoe County were looking for a new landfill to replace one that was leaking toxic chemicals into groundwater after illegal hazardous-waste dumping. The choice was subjected to a provincial environmental assessment, which in 1989 rejected it, saying the county's evaluation process was "in part non-existent" and "flawed." That would have effectively killed it, but for an unusual political decision. The then-Liberal cabinet of Ontario in 1990 ordered the environmental assessment to resume, in effect approving the site. Cabinets rarely exercise this kind of power, especially for a relatively small dump located in a rural backwater. "I've never seen anything like this," said Gordon Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. "How on earth this thing got escalated to a cabinet agenda, I have no idea. That in itself is very unusual. Somebody obviously had the juice to do that." Because it has taken nearly 25 years for the dump to be ready for construction, standards have changed and Mr. Miller said he doubts the site could pass muster if it were chosen today. "It would be screened out," he said. Mr. Miller said one of the reasons he believes the dump wouldn't be approved is that that the site is so waterlogged that large amounts of pumping will be needed to prevent the plastic liner that will be placed under the garbage from floating up. The county has a provincial permit to remove nearly 250 million litres while the dump is being constructed. The site is also close to an airport, raising worries about bird collisions. Since the area's dump closed in 1987, residents have been sending their garbage to other landfills in the county and elsewhere. One justification for the dump is that the residents don't have a landfill of their own, and are using up capacity elsewhere in Simcoe. Even so, the county council has been bitterly divided over the dump, and approved it by only a one-vote margin. Mr. Miller has asked the province to review its approval, but the request was ignored. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment, Cindy Hood, said government scientists have analyzed the data supporting the dump and vouch for it. "We're confident that the site ... will be operated in an environmentally responsible way," she said. *** The gold standard for purity The water under the proposed landfill in Tiny Township has been named the world's purest because it has extremely low concentrations of trace metals. The amounts of cobalt, chromium and vanadium match those found in the cleanest layers of Arctic ice drawn from deposits as much as 15,000 years old. The lead concentrations are among the lowest detected anywhere in the world. At one time it was thought the water was so clean because it was ancient and dated from the last ice age, but researchers now believe it's of much more recent vintage. It probably fell nearby as rain within the past 20 years. The secret to the clean water is that as rain slowly drains through the area's glacial soil, pollutants are removed. The clean water has already been used for research - as a kind of gold standard of purity. It was used in a study that found many samples of supposedly high-quality bottled water actually contained elevated traces of a metal, antimony, that leaches out of plastic containers into the beverages. Martin Mittelstaedt From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 5 10:19:11 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 10:19:11 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Ask Sludge Watch - should I drink this tap water? Message-ID: Ask Sludge Watch Do you have suggestions on protocols for rural water safety in the face of sludge or manure challenges? Those of us on rural drinking water wells are responsible for our own drinking water testing. The problem is that there is inadequate public education on how to do this, and what to do when samples come back indicating contamination. Many rural wells are old. They can be hand dug, artesian, or stone lined. They were built for a world that had no pesticides, no gasoline, no liquid manure, and no sewage sludge. For decades these wells could provide clean groundwater to rural homes. But now industrial farming practices, sludge storage and spreading, liquid manure storage, industrial activity and quarrying can challenge rural water and cause on going contamination of rural drinking wells. People on rural wells need to keep their septic system in good shape, too. Here are some suggestions: All people on rural wells should test their water monthly (or at least regularly) for Total Coliform, E.coli, Nitrates, turbidity (if the water has too much material in it they can't get a clear reading on bacteria). If the area is prone to high arsenic there should be an arsenic test. If the house is older, a lead test. If rural residents hear that sludge is coming, or it has recently been spread, they should take a clean glass jar and fill it with a water sample and seal it, sign it with the date and put it in the back of the fridge...in case they need a sample for a baseline in the event the sludge contaminates the groundwater at some point in the future. If there is sludge spreading nearby - I think people should really consider not drinking their well water at all - or at least boiling it first. People could get one of those large 15 gallon glass jugs and fill it with water from a source they trust - good quality municipal treated drinking water or water from a tested source or spring - and use that water for drinking and cooking. If water is contaminated with Ecoli or Coliform or other contaminants - water treatment systems are needed. Remember too, that if there has been bacterial contamination over a period of time, there may be bacteria living in biofilms in the pipes, filters, and fixtures. These bacteria can continue to contaminate tap water even if the well water is clean. Testing at the tap is important to ensure that not just the well but also the tap water is good quality. Many people may install UV filters and/or reverse osmosis systems. However, there may be contaminants in the water that survive these filters....but for water for bathing, cleaning, toilet flushing these filters are a good start. For water that is confirmed contaminated - whether with bacteria or with metals or petroleum or pesticides etc - professionals need to be consulted to chose a water treatment system. Remember that it isn't only contaminated drinking water that can pose a risk, even showering or bathing with contaminated water can cause serious health problems. Any change in your water should be noted with concern: odors, change in colour, change in taste....should trigger a move to other drinking water sources and laboratory testing of your water. Talk to neighbors, and talk to your local public health officials. Note: many rural properties that have hard water have installed water softeners. This water can have a high salt content from the softening system and really should not be used as drinking water. It it particularly a problem for people who need salt restricted diets. A bypass tap in the kitchen can be installed. General questions about city water: Should I drink the tap water in my town? Ask the municipality for copies of tests on your municipal water supply. Ask about lead hazards in the water *particularly if the town uses 'chloramination'. Ask about any non compliance events. Find out if it has high trihalomethane (major cause of colon cancer). Ask about perchlorate (jet fuel). Ask about bacteria. General Suggestions for city water: use a filter (like a Brita filter jug or something similar) to take out the chlorine. Or pour water into a jug and leave it standing for an hour to allow the chlorine to evaporate before drinking or watering house plants. Remember that we need to drink lots of clean water everyday, and any contamination in our drinking water may have serious health consequences over time. Final Suggestions: Treat water sources with respect. Defend local groundwater and water recharge areas. Oppose deep well injection of wastes or wastewater. Create committees of water champions to protect local rivers and lakes and beaches. (Waterkeeper/Riverkeeper is a good example) Teach your children to love and respect water. Listen to corbin Harney "The Water Song" story: http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/storytellers/corbin_harney.html#transcript From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 5 12:23:36 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 12:23:36 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Part One Grist Special : Poop + Marketing = Biosolids Message-ID: Crap Happens: A Grist Special Report on How We Dispose of Our Poop A Grist Special Series Poop + Marketing = Biosolids Sludge, farmer?s friend or toxic slime? 4 May 2009 by Catherine Price Should what we put down our sewers ultimately wind up back on our plates? Urine, feces, menstrual blood, hair, fingernails, vomit, dead skin cells. Industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, soaps, shampoos, solvents, pesticides, household cleansers, hospital waste. Sewage sludge, the viscous brown gunk left over when wastewater is treated, is more than just poop: it?s an odiferous smoothie of everything we pour down the drain. There are pathogens; there are heavy metals. PCBs, dioxins, DDT, asbestos, polio, parasitic worms, radioactive material?all have been found in sludge. Despite pretreatment programs that prevent some of the most noxious stuff from entering the public sewers, sludge can include so many toxins that the Clean Water Act lists it as a ?pollutant.? So it?s a little surprising where it ends up: Today more than half of America?s sewage sludge is spread on land as fertilizer. Granted, this isn?t a new idea. For most of human history, our crap has ended up back on land?and it wasn?t until the past century, which brought flush toilets and public sewers to mainstream America, that using excrement as fertilizer started sounding at all strange. Sure, this system was driven partially by convenience, but it also made ecological sense: our urine and feces contain the same nutrients that plants need. Spreading it on land closes the nutrient loop; it avoids the need for chemical fertilizers. Eat, shit, fertilize, and eat again. For thousands of years, this arrangement worked just fine. Or, rather, almost fine. As human populations grew and concentrated, health problems like cholera outbreaks inspired a push for flush toilets and public sewer systems. This led to huge improvements in public health, but resulted in a new problem: sewers mixed domestic sewage with industrial waste and spewed it untreated into rivers and lakes. The next step was sewage treatment plants, which separated liquids from solids, but in solving one issue they created yet another: the cleaner they made the water, the dirtier the leftover sludge. Adding to the challenge, as the population of the United States grew, so did the amount of sludge: we?re currently generating more than 7 million dry tons a year and counting?and we have no intention of cutting back. Meanwhile, as a mycelium of sewer pipes spreads underneath our cities to whisk our waste away from us, Americans became increasingly squeamish about dealing with excrement. We?re now a nation of ?fecaphobes,? obsessed with toilet humor but unaware and uninterested in what happens to our actual crap. We don?t want to think about it; we don?t want to deal with it. We want to flush the toilet and forget. ** Sludge from Los Angeles is dumped at Green Acres, a Los Angeles-owned farm in Kern County, California. Courtesy Bakersfield CalifornianThe Office of Water doesn?t have the privilege of forgetting about sludge?it?s the Environmental Protection Agency department responsible for dealing with America?s sewage. In the 1990s its job got even harder: sewers and wastewater treatment facilities mandated by the 1972 Clean Water Act more than doubled the amount of sludge America produced each year, and the 1988 Ocean Dumping Act eliminated the option of getting rid of it at sea. The OW had been encouraging land application on a limited scale since the 1970s. Now, faced with limited options and a never-ending supply, it evaluated its remaining possibilities?landfilling, incineration, or land application?and settled on the cheapest option available: promoting sludge as fertilizer. To make this palatable to the American people?or, at least, to prevent them from thinking about it too hard?the word ?sludge? had to go. So the sewage industry?s main trade and lobbying organization, the Water Environment Federation, stepped in. (WEF and OW often work closely together.) It organized a ?Name Change Taskforce? and sponsored a contest to come up with a different term for sludge. Rebranding was an area in which WEF had experience?originally founded in 1928 as the brown-sounding ?Federation of Sewage Works Associations,? it had recently gone through its fourth name change, and had begun referring to its members, who included sewage plant operators and waste management corporations, as ?water quality professionals.? The renaming contest received over 250 entries, many of which suggested that even water quality professionals still enjoy a good poop joke. Submissions included ?bioslurp,? ?black gold,? ?sca-doo,? ?hu-doo,? ?geoslime,? and ?the end product?; one person proposed rebranding sludge as ?R.O.S.E.? (?Recycling Of Solids Environmentally?). Critics asked whether a rose by any other name would still smell as bad, and in 1991 WEF settled on ?biosolids,? a term that Sheldon Rampton, co-author of Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, suggests ?must have been chosen precisely because it evokes absolutely nothing in the minds of people who hear it.? Of course, from the wastewater treatment industry?s perspective, that was the point: they didn?t want any visuals. Armed with an empty word, their next goal was to make ?biosolid? suggest something positive. So in 1992, OW and WEF joined in a ?cooperative agreement? called the Biosolids National Public Acceptance Campaign and hired a public relations and lobbying firm called Powell Tate to produce a report on how to improve the public image of sludge. The resulting campaign??Biosolids 2000??didn?t answer important questions, like why people living near biosolids application sites complained of health problems, or why current federal legislation still permits every business, institution and industry in the country to dump 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of untreated hazardous waste into the sewer system each month, no reporting required. It also failed to prevent 2000 and 2002 reports from EPA?s own Office of Inspector General from stating that ?EPA cannot assure the public that current land application practices are protective of human health and the environment.? And yet partially because of OW and WEF?s PR efforts, partially because of our willful ignorance, the effort to rebrand sludge as biosolids has largely been successful. Although some is still incinerated or buried in landfills, today more than 50 percent of America?s sewage sludge is spread on land. *** Biosolid digesters at the Hyperion Treatment Plant in Los Angeles. Courtesy Brian RaimondiDiane Gilbert, a spokesperson for biosolids at the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant in Los Angeles, is a water quality professional of the sort endorsed by the Powell Tate report. Her enthusiasm seems genuine, but like other biosolids spokespeople I interviewed, she is also a master at following the guidelines articulated in biosolids media training guides. [Sample tip: ?If the reporter asks rapid fire (multiple questions), choose the easiest.?] Enthusiastic and bubbly, Gilbert grew up in Louisiana and has been at Hyperion since 1987. But Gilbert?s involvement with sewage sludge started even earlier; with a father who worked at a wastewater treatment plant and used sludge to fertilize the family?s garden, she considers herself a poster child for land application. ?I?ve been eating food fertilized with biosolids for as long as I can remember,? she told me, after I?d returned from a tour of the plant. (Tip: ?Encourage the reporter to meet you at a working location.?) ?So if anyone should be affected by biosolids, it should clearly be me.? I?d come to Hyperion because I wanted to learn more about this mysterious brown substance?how it was made, how it was monitored, and how worried we should be. Eager to dispel my concerns about land application, Gilbert had originally wanted to take me to Green Acres, the 5,000-acre city-owned farm just outside of Bakersfield, where Los Angeles ships most of its treated sludge to grow various grass crops to be fed to dairy cows. (Tip: ?Location visuals help enhance and give credibility to your message.?) Unfortunately, lawyers got in the way. Green Acres is in Kern County, and residents there don?t like the idea of being the recipients of Los Angeles? crap. So, like an increasing number of communities across America, Kern County passed a ban on the land application of sewage sludge. Los Angeles responded by suing the county, and since the lawsuit is still pending, lawyers have gotten cagey about letting reporters visit the farm. Instead Gilbert and I grabbed sandwiches and headed for a darkened conference room at Hyperion, where Gilbert popped in a promotional movie about Green Acres. With a synthesized soundtrack reminiscent of the theme song for Doogie Howser, M.D., the movie opened with a picture of a field of wheat, its title superimposed in yellow bubbly script. ?Imagine turning arid soil that can only grow tumbleweeds and sage brush into nutrient-rich soil that can grow crops for livestock,? said a male narrator, blessed with the voice of a 1950s public service announcer. ?Imagine doing this without saturating the soil with chemicals.? He continued, smoothly substituting euphemisms for That Which Must Not Be Named: ?Now imagine tons of treated primarily organic material from wastewater treatment plants being used to change the soil through its own nitrogen, phosphate, phosphorous and other natural ingredients.? The movie was titled, appropriately enough, ?Imagine.? But instead of being a paean for peace, it invited me to imagine a world in which all of our ?beneficial,? ?nutrient-rich? biosolids were put to use as fertilizer?and followed a script that could have come directly from the Powell Tate report. I took a bite of my sandwich as the narrator dispelled concerns about using sewage sludge as a soil amendment. ?There will always be skeptics who question the use of biosolids,? he announced, ?just like there were skeptics who didn?t believe that people could fly?until the Wright Brothers proved them wrong.? *** Among many others, these skeptics include two unrelated Georgia dairy farmers, Andy McElmurray and Bill Boyce. Starting in 1979 and 1986 respectively, both began using free sludge as fertilizer on their farms, a practice the city of Augusta assured them was safe. But starting in the 1990s, problems arose: hundreds of the men?s cows died, McElmurray discovered his land was contaminated with aluminum, which he attributed to the sludge, and a 1999 test found that milk from some of Boyce?s surviving cows contained thallium?an element once used as rat poison?at 120 times the concentration EPA allows in drinking water. Both farmers filed lawsuits against the city and in March 2008, U.S. District Judge Anthony Alaimo issued a 45-page ruling on one of McElmurray?s lawsuits that found that ?senior EPA officials took extraordinary steps to quash scientific dissent, and any questioning of the EPA?s biosolids program.? And that?s just the cows. Today, 16 years after the official federal sludge rules came into effect in 1993, EPA still doesn?t have a system in place to monitor or investigate sludge-related health complaints. But in 2002, a team of researchers produced the first peer-reviewed article (whose findings were recently backed up in a separate study) to both document health complaints from people who?d been exposed to sludge and explain how this exposure might have made them sick. The long list of health problems reported by the study?s 48 participants includes asthma, fevers, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, coughs, burning eyes and throats, sinusitis, and diarrhea. Two subjects died from Staphylococcus aureus infections acquired shortly after being exposed to freshly applied biosolids. (Interestingly, while EPA?s Office of Water?the department responsible for writing the sludge rules?denies that these deaths were at all connected to biosolids exposure, EPA?s office of Research and Development approved the paper for publication and supported its conclusions.) When the researchers compared their subjects? rate of staph infections to that of hospital patients, considered ?a recognized risk group for S. Aureus,? the infection rate of the study?s subjects was approximately 25 times higher. According to EPA paperwork, the lead author of this study, David Lewis, Ph.D., resigned from EPA in 2003. Lewis, however, says he was essentially fired for speaking out on sludge?and his former lab director backs him up. She wrote in a 2008 statement that Lewis?s termination was ?involuntary? and that Lewis ?was an excellent researcher and an asset to EPA science.? Motivated by stories like these, several passionate groups?like Citizens for Sludge-Free Land, Sludge Victims and Riles (Resource Institute for Low Entropy Systems)?have dedicated themselves to fighting the land application of sludge. They run websites; they lobby politicians to try to change the rules. But as for the rest of Americans, the subject of sludge is still not something we dwell on. Unfortunately, as arguments and lawsuits against land application pile up?not to mention the sludge itself?our days of blissful ignorance might be limited. I?d come to Hyperion not just because it had occurred to me that we should be thinking about what happens to our sewage, but because I could see a day in the not-so-distant future when we?d be forced to. Given the inconsistency and toxicity of the ingredients in sludge, the loopholes in its regulations and the mounting criticisms against its use, I kept reaching the same conclusion: despite the Office of Water?s insistence on the safety of spreading sludge on land, we should be looking for alternatives. The United States will never stop producing shit. But there must be a better way to deal with it. Tomorrow: Businesses try to figure out how to turn poop into gold. Catherine Price is a contributing editor at Popular Science whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The Best American Science Writing and Slate, among many other publications. The research for this article was funded through a Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Reporting. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Wed May 6 10:33:26 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 10:33:26 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Banning, Calif: Sludge to energy opponents submit signatures Message-ID: Sludge to energy opponents submit signatures May 5, 2009 By ERIN WALDNER The Press-Enterprise Opponents of a proposed plant that would burn sewage sludge to generate electricity on Monday submitted what they say are enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot that would block the Banning development and any like it. The measure would make it unlawful to burn, incinerate or utilize any other process that would convert sewage sludge into ash within Banning. The measure contends that such a plant would put residents' health at risk, worsen air pollution and hurt property values. Banning City Clerk Marie Calderon was presented with 4,303 signatures in support of the ballot measure. The signatures of 1,978 registered Banning voters are needed to get the measure on the ballot. Calderon said city officials did a random count of the signatures submitted Monday and that there are more than enough. Calderon will send the signatures to the Riverside County registrar of voters to be certified and counted. The matter would then go before the Banning City Council, which would have to decide whether to hold a special election Nov. 3 or adopt the measure outright. Three Banning residents involved in Citizens Against Toxic Sludge, a local group that opposes the proposed Banning plant, wrote the measure. One, attorney Benson Goldstein, said presenting the signatures to the city was an "unbelievable" feeling. The proposal to build a sewage-to-energy plant near Banning Municipal Airport comes from Bakersfield-based Liberty Energy. The company announced in October that it was delaying its plans because of unfavorable market conditions. In March, company representative Michael Bracken sent the city a letter stating its intention to proceed. Bracken acknowledged in the letter that residents were circulating a petition block the Liberty project. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sigs05.468003b.html From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Wed May 6 10:34:39 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 10:34:39 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Missouri : National Beef suspends tannery sludge distribution Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Doesn't it seem strange that the EPA would make the law firm representing victims turn over their chromium information? ........................... National Beef suspends sludge distribution Posted: April 23, 2009 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The company accused of distributing a sludge containing a cancer-causing chemical to farmers in northwest Missouri disputed the claims Thursday and defended its environmental record. Prime Tanning Corp. issued a statement in response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday accusing it of knowingly distributing the sludge as free fertilizer to farmers in four counties. The lawsuit contends the sludge contained hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6, which is a known carcinogen. Prime Tanning Corp. was purchased last month by Kansas City-based National Beef Packing Co. and renamed National Beef Leathers Co., which was also named in the lawsuit. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich told a crowd in Cameron on Wednesday night that hexavalent chromium may be linked to what some area residents believe is a high number of brain tumors in the region. State and federal agencies have tested several areas in and around Cameron in the last year in response to concerns about the tumors. The lawsuit and Brockovich's meeting were the first time hexavalent chromium in fertilizer had been publicly identified as a possible cause. "Based on our preliminary investigation, we believe there is no basis for the claims made in the litigation," said Grover Elliott, vice president and chief financial officer of Prime Tanning Co. "We look forward to cooperating fully with state and federal agencies in their review and investigation." The lawsuit, filed by two northwest Missouri residents, accuses Prime Tanning of not telling the state that the sludge left over from tanning processes at its St. Joseph plant contained hexavalent chromium. Prime Tanning's statement does not address that allegation, and the company said it would answer no other questions. More tests will be conducted to determine how widespread the use of the fertilizer was, but an environmental investigator at Wednesday's meeting said it has been distributed since 1983 primarily in Andrew, Buchanan, DeKalb and Clinton counties. National Beef Leathers said Wednesday it would stop applying the sludge while it conducts its own investigation. The company said the due diligence it conducted before buying Prime Tanning did not uncover any irregularities with the application of the sludge. Elliott said the application of the byproduct of tanning at its plant "is an environmentally responsible practice that is done in accordance with all Missouri laws and regulations." The statement also said the St. Joseph plant meets international standards for environmental certification. The Missouri Department of Agriculture is not involved in regulating fertilizer. Enforcement of the state's laws governing fertilizer is the responsibility of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Missouri. Joe Slater, head of the station's fertilizer/ag lime service, was out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment. According to its Web site, the service has been responsible for regulating fertilizer in Missouri since 1893. It currently has eight field inspectors who work out of their homes and a small office staff in Columbia. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which has been leading the investigation into the tumor complaints, did not return phone calls Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency has been assisting in that investigation. Spokesman Chris Whitley said no one had suggested before Wednesday that the agency investigate the fertilizer or the possible presence of high levels of hexavalent chromium. The EPA has asked the law firm that filed the lawsuit, Wagstaff Cartmell of Kansas City, for any information it has on the hexavalent chromium. "We're very interested in seeing whatever data the law firm may be able to turn over to us," Whitley said. "If we are allowed to see it, we will evaluate it and take whatever action seems to be appropriate." From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 7 12:20:46 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 12:20:46 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Region of Peel Ontario - World's Largest Sludge Fluidized Bed Incinerator Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: To listen to the Ontario Government reps talk you would think we need to put sludge on farmfields. You would think that land application is the major sludge disposal venue in this province. It isn't. Below is a description of the world's largest fluidized bed incinerator for sewage sludge, less than 40 minutes west of Toronto City Hall. You can take a virtual tour by visiting this site: http://www.thestar.com/fpLarge/video/458580 see: Toronto Star: Keeping Sewage Sludge off Farmland a Burning Issue http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/460263 These facilities work so effectively, and are so clean that most people don't know that this is one of the major venues of managing sludge. This method reduces greenhouse gases from trucking and land application. Sludge incinerators in Ontario Toronto Highland Creek - one Lakeview Plant Peel Region - four (complete 2010) Corbett Creek Durham Region - two London Ontario - one Each one handles the sewage for about a population of 600,000 to 700,000 people. So the Ontario plants manage about 5 million people's worth of sludge. Most people are unaware that Ontario sludges are currently trucked far into other jurisdictions like Michigan, Quebec, Ohio, and New York state. They are unfamiliar with the lawsuits stemming from Toronto sewage sludge in the Michigan Carleton landfill. They are unfamiliar with the lack of landfill capacity in southern Ontario to take these sludges. And they are unfamiliar with the fact that no matter how lightly or tightly regulated, very very few farmers are will to take sludge. Less than one percent of Ontario farmland takes sludge right now, and despite all the free lunches put on by the sludge hauler Terratec Limited - the sludge-on-farmland scenario has been flatlined for the better part of a decade. So people need to get familiar with the alternatives. Environmental assessments done by Peel Region, and Hamilton, in Ontario and St Paul Minn. all show that incineration of sludge in modern European-standards facilities is both cheaper and cleaner than land application. There are virtually no mercury emissions, no heavy metals, no pathogens, no methane, lowered green house gases. Metals are sequestered in the ash for safe disposal or use in building materials. .......................................................... http://www.wwdmag.com/Sludge-Treatment-Made-Easy-article8491 Sludge Treatment Made Easy Lakeview WWTP reduces odor and maintenance costs by switching from incineration of heat-treated sludge to incineration of untreated sludge - By Neda Simeonova The Lakeview Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is located on the shore of Lake Ontario in Mississauga, just west of metropolitan Toronto. Owned by the Region of Peel and operated by the Ontario Clean Water Agency, the plant processes the wastewater from homes and businesses in the towns of Mississauga, Caledon and Brampton. It has a average annual design capacity of 118 million gal per day (mgd). During the last few decades, the Lakeview WWTP treated sludge generated at the plant as well as imported sludge from the nearby Clarkson plant, which was trucked in liquid form to Lakeview in more than 30 trucks per day. The sludge was heat-treated by Zimmerman Process (Zimpro), decanted, dewatered by up to 38% solid content and burned in three cold-wind-box (CWB) fluidized beds, two of which were installed in 1980 and the third in 1994. Plant evolution According to William Fernandes, manager of water and wastewater treatment for the Region of Peel, the region decided in 2003 to replace the three existing CWB fluid beds with four Thermylis Hot-Wind-Box (HWB) fluid beds from Degremont Technologies/Infilco. Frequent community complaints about odors, high maintenance costs generated by the Zimpro and concerns about risk of raw sludge spills, odor and other air pollutant emissions during trucking from the Clarkson facility were the main factors for the replacement. Installation overview To meet all needs, the region and the project?s consulting engineers decided to phase out the Zimpro system and replace it with four HWB systems, each disposing 110 tons of dry sludge per day. The first of the four HWB systems became operational in February 2006. According to Dr. Ky Dangtran, technical manager of thermal process for Degremont, the new system is equipped with an external shell and tube heat exchanger for preheating the combustion air to 1,230?F, thus reducing the auxiliary fuel consumption. It also has a venturi scrubber as an air pollution control device. Since February 2006, the new HWB system has been running 24 hours per day with very little requirements for auxiliary fuel or makeup sand, according to Fernandes. Following the performance testing, it satisfied the design emission criteria. Why fluid bed incineration? Severe sludge standards and lack of available land have made fluid bed incineration widely acceptable for sludge disposal. In fluid bed incinerators, water is evaporated and organic materials combusted, according to Degremont Technology/Infilco. In that way, odors are eliminated and sludge is reduced to smaller quantities of inert ash (as low as 7% by weight), resulting in reduced land requirements and air pollution. The Thermylis high temperature fluid bed (HTFB) incinerator consists of three basic zones: a windbox, a sand bed and a freeboard. The term ?fluid bed? refers to the strong boiling action of the sand that happens when air is blown through from below. The windbox is refractory lined and equipped with a refractory arch distributor. The refractory arch distributor is equipped with special alloy tuyeres, which ensure even distribution of the air throughout the sand bed. To profit from the turbulent mixing, dewatering sludge and auxiliary fuel (if necessary) are directly introduced into the bed, where they are instantly combusted at above 1,250?F. In the next stage, combustion gas and evaporated water flow move upward into the voluminous teardrop-shaped freeboard, where the bed material is disengaged. Operating at 1,550?F, the freeboard serves as a gas polisher. It offers a minimum of 6.5-second gas residence time, more than adequate to complete the combustion. The three T?s?turbulence, time and temperature?make the fluid bed incineration the most economical and environmentally sound process to dispose of sludge, according to Degremont Technologies/Infilco. Improvements underway Because of the concerns regarding the trucking of imported sludge to the Lakeview plant for incineration, engineers and managers decided that the Clarkson WWTP sludge would be dewatered prior to shipping, resulting in a significant decrease in truck traffic in the vicinity?from 30 to 35 trucks per day during current sludge production down to three to four trucks per day, and from 50 to 60 trucks per day during ultimate sludge production down to six to eight trucks per day. This decrease reduced the risk of raw sludge spills, odor and emission of other air pollutants. The replacement of the Zimpro process with four Thermylis HWB fluid beds resulted in less odor, improved air quality and lower sludge disposal costs. In addition, the HWB resulted in a reduced demand for auxiliary fuel. According to Dangtran and Fernandes, the new HWB has used little fuel since its startup. When burning the untreated sludge at 27% total suspended solids (TSS), the HWB can save up to 41 MM btu/hr in auxiliary fuel in comparison to the CWB. With all four fluid beds expected to be operational by mid-2009, the Lakeview WWTP will be the largest sludge incineration plant in the world. ?Of extraordinary importance to the success of this project was the spirit of collaboration that was established between the four main players?Infilco, consulting and design engineers Black & Veatch and general contractors Kenaidan and OCWA, who worked from the very first meeting to identify challenges and worked as a team to establish open communication,? said Steve Hailey, project manager at Degremont Technologies. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 7 12:33:04 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 12:33:04 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Alabama - Sewage Sludge Spoils Lawrence County Wells Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: This story doesn't convey entirely accurate information. While a state may opt to take over the management of sewage sludge from the oversight of the EPA by adopting regulations that are more stringent than the federal Part 503 regulations=2C this is not the only option for state regulation of sludge. Many states have additional requirements or state agencies counties and municipalities can all pass more stringent requriements for sludge spreading - without taking over the supervision role from the EPA administrator. California is a case in point where virtually every county has sludge requirements and restrictions and the California Integrated Management Board has requirements for sludge processing and spreading. But the sludge program is still managed in California by the Federal EPA sludge administrator out of San Francisco. So if Alamaba has state agencies that want to set stricter requriements for sludge spreading...they are free to so without the obligation to take over the management of sludge from the EPA regulator. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Sewage sludge spoils LC wells By Ginger Grantham News Editor Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 The first time most people in Lawrence County became aware of biosolids being spread on county fields was last summer when residents in the Mount Hope area complained. Biosolids are by products of human waste and come from sludge in waste water (sewer) treatment plants. People in Mount Hope were upset about the smell and concerned about the possibility of their lands and water becoming contaminated. The biosolids being spread in Mount Hope came from New York City. When contacted last year about the biosolids in Mount Hope, Ronnie Murphy, deputy director of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, said the state had no authority to regulate the use of biosolids however his department does monitor its use. When the Clean Water Act passed Congress in 1993, the states were given the option of regulating the use of biosolids or letting the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do the regulating. Since the state regulation meant following a number of unfunded federal mandates, Alabama opted to let EPA regulate biosolids. Murphy said Alabama is the only state in EPA Region 4 that does not regulate biosolids. ?There wasn?t a recommendation passed by the state legislature to opt out,? Murphy said. ?I don?t know where the decision was made.? At the time, Murphy was worried about pharmaceuticals getting into the land and water systems through biosolids. Concerns about biosolids are again being raised after perfluorinated compounds were found in biosolids being spread on land in Lawrence County. The compound now causing concern is PFOA, which is a chemical used in making Teflon and Telfon related products. The sludge containing PFOA is coming from Decatur Utilities sludge being spread by its contractor Synagro. PFOA is apparently coming from 3M which produced FPOA until 2001, Daikin America and Toray Fluorofibers. EPA has tested wells and ponds in the areas of Lawrence, Limestone and Morgan counties where biosolids from Decatur Utilities were spread and found over 80 percent of the tests were showed contamination from PFOA including six wells in Lawrence County. All six well-owners were able to hook onto city or county water systems. The cost of running water lines to the six well-owners was covered by Decatur Utilities, Synagro and companies which produced or used the PFOAs. All the contamination is in the eastern area of the county. None of the land in Mount Hope where biosolids were spread last year are involved. EPA is planning to hold a public meeting in June to answer the public?s concern about biosolids. The date has not been set. In the meantime, State Representative Jody Letson managed to push a bill through the Alabama Legislature that will allow people in Lawrence County to vote on whether or not biosolids may be used for fertilizer in the county. That bill is awaiting Gov. Bob Riley?s signature. Synagro has stated that the company did not test sludge from Decatur Utilities for PFOAs because it did not know the sludge contained the compounds. PFOA compounds are not naturally occurring. Once in the human body, it takes a long time for the body to eliminate them. More PFOAs accumulate over time. According to the EPA Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as ?C8,? is a synthetic chemical that does not occur naturally in the environment. It has special properties that have many important manufacturing and industrial applications. EPA has been investigating PFOA because it: ? Is very persistent in the environment ? Is found at very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population ? Remains in people for a very long time ? Causes developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals. Major pathways that enable PFOA, in very small quantities, to get into human blood are not yet fully understood. PFOA is used to make fluoropolymers and can also be released by the transformation of some fluorinated telomers. However, consumer products made with fluoropolymers and fluorinated telomers, including Teflon? and other trademark products, are not PFOA. Rather, some of them may contain trace amounts of PFOA and other related perfluorinated chemicals as impurities. It wasn?t until January of this year that EPA?s Office of Water (OW) developed Provisional Health Advisories (PHA) for PFOA and PFOS to protect against potential risk from exposure to these chemicals through drinking water. Provisional Health Advisories serve as informal technical guidance to assist Federal, State and local officials in response to an urgent or rapidly developing drinking water contamination. They reflect reasonable, health-based hazard concentrations above which action should be taken to reduce exposure to these contaminants in drinking water. The PHA values are 0.4 ?g/L for PFOA and 0.2 ?g/L for PFOS. These values may be used to assess contamination and exposure at other sites. Provisional Health Advisories are not to be construed as legally enforceable federal standards and are subject to change as new information becomes available. Even though Decatur Utilities stopped land application of sludge in November, Lawrence County is still a repository for the sludge. It is shipped to Morris Farms Landfill in the county. The runoff from Morris Farms finds it way to Moulton?s waste water treatment plant. The Morgan County Area Landfill has refused to accept the sludge. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 07:21:51 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 07:21:51 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> The Grist Sludge Special - Part 2 - Gold in them piles Message-ID: Gold in them piles Businesses struggle to profit from sewage sludge 5 Posted 8:14 PM on 5 May 2009 Part 2 of Grist?s special series on poop. ?We?re trying to get the pieces bigger?ideally the size of pencil erasers,? said John ?Rus? Miller, handing me a plastic packet of a brown, dry, crumbly material with the texture of couscous and the odor of manure. That?s because it was manure?in the form of dried sewage sludge. To me, it looked and smelled like shit. But when Miller looked at the pellets, he saw coal. I was visiting a company named Enertech?s plant in Rialto, California, because I was searching for alternatives for what we currently do with sludge?the dark brown, complex material that?s left over after wastewater is treated. Referred to as ?biosolids? by the sewage industry, more than half of America?s sludge is applied to land as a soil amendment or fertilizer. However, since sludge also contains thousands of chemicals, pharmaceuticals residues, and other toxic materials that get dumped into our sewers, many call this more of a problem than a solution. But what if we could use sludge as energy? In addition to undigested food, it contains woody material from toilet paper and billions of microorganisms from our digestive tracts and the plants where sludge is treated, all of which contain carbon. Sewage treatment plants have captured methane from their sludge for years, which can either be sold or used to run the plant?but those systems only partially reduce the volume of the sludge that?s left over. So far there?s no widespread method to create energy and get rid of the sludge at the same time. You?d think this wouldn?t be the case. Back in 1873, before most American cities had sewer systems to begin with, Scientific American commented that ?(i)t is no exaggeration that the problem of the conversion of the excremental waste of towns and people and the refuse of factories into useful materials is now engaging as much of the attention of intelligent minds throughout the world as any social question.? Other social questions trumped sewage, though, and it?s only been recently that the cost and controversy of our current methods has inspired a new generation of intelligent minds to look for alternative solutions. Some of these, while exciting, are still embryonic, like fuel cells that use sewage-eating microbes to produce electricity, closed-loop incinerators that run off of sludge and waste oils, biofuel made from sewage-fed algae, or methods that gasify sludge into liquid fuel. But a handful of promising alternatives are already in use. One of them is SlurryCarbTM. Enertech?s plant in Rialto, California, is producing a biofuel from processed sludge.Courtesy EnertechThe theory behind SlurryCarb is not particulary complicated: take sludge, dry it into pellets, then burn it as a carbon-neutral replacement for coal. And in fact, when I first saw Enertech?s Rialto Plant, I wasn?t particularly impressed. Flanked by a sewage treatment facility and a cement manufacturer, it blends in perfectly with its industrial surroundings. Large silos of sludge feed into an outdoor network of metal pipes; eventually, the sludge goes through a centrifuge and heat dryer and comes out as pellets on the other end. But while the idea of burning sludge is simple, there?s a big problem: when it arrives from the wastewater treatment plant, sludge is really, really wet. Treated sludge looks like clumpy dirt but it?s actually 70 to 85 percent water, much of which has to be removed before the sludge will burn. Adding to the challenge, a lot of the liquid in sludge is locked within its cell walls. Releasing that trapped liquid takes so much energy that although plants have been pelletizing sludge for years (usually to use as fertilizer), there?s a net energy loss. That?s where Enertech is different. Unlike a traditional heat-drying plant that uses evaporation to get rid of water?which requires a lot of energy?Enertech pressurizes its sludge so that it never boils. Then it uses controlled heat to break down the sludge?s cell walls and force them to release their water. Enertech?s overall process uses less than half as much natural gas as a traditional drying plant and produces what the company claims is a net energy gain of approximately 95 percent. Granted, that gain doesn?t take into account the energy the wastewater treatment plant used to dewater the sludge before it got to Enertech. But the system works well for Enertech?s balance sheets: not only do the treatment plants take care of some of the drying beforehand, but they have to pay Enertech a tipping fee for every ton of sludge that it accepts. At full capacity, Enertech hopes that its Rialto plant will produce 200 dry tons of SlurryCarb per day, which prompts the obvious question of what they?re going to do with it?in most markets, dried shit doesn?t go for much. Luckily for Enertech, the answer is right next door: cement plants. Making cement produces a lot of carbon dioxide, and most cement plants run on coal?and ever tightening regulations make cement plants eager to find substitutes for the coal in their kilns. SlurryCarb, which is cheaper and has about half of the BTUs of bituminous coal, is exactly that. (It?s also a hell of a lot easier to extract.) Even better, sludge?s leftover ash contains silica, another ingredient in cement, and can be incorporated directly into the cement mixture. Cement plants therefore don?t just reduce the volume of the sludge by burning SlurryCarb?they make it disappear. So far, Enertech has contracts with two cement companies in Southern California, and is in talks with five more. Its technique has also attracted foreign attention: the Masdar Clean Tech Fund is considering hiring Enertech to handle the biosolids produced by Masdar, a planned development in Abu Dhabi for 50,000 people that aims to be the world?s first carbon-neutral city. Back home, Miller says he?s spoken with sewage agencies in most of America?s major cities, who are watching the Rialto plant with interest. If it?s a success, Enertech hopes the SlurryCarb process might become a common way for sewage treatment plants to dispose of sludge. ?But what if you eventually produce so much that the SlurryCarb gets used in places besides cement plants?? I asked Miller when he explained that SlurryCarb could be used in other industries as a substitute for low-grade coal. ?What would you do with all the ash?? ?That,? he said, ?would require some pretty creative thinking.? Which brings me to a different plastic bag. This one?s black, tucked into a shelf in my living room, and contains a collection of sewage-related products that I?ve picked up in the course of my reporting. Most can be clearly traced back to sludge?a sample of SlurryCarb-like pellets from a different plant, for example, or a pouch of compost made from sludge and wood chips in an enormous building that used to be an Ikea warehouse. But one of my sewage souvenirs looks like it doesn?t belong: a jar, about the size of a pill bottle, containing tiny black chips the size and shape of a crumbled Oreo cookie. They don?t look or smell like they came from sludge?in fact, they don?t have a smell at all. The chips are glass aggregate, the sparkly material commonly seen on roofing shingles. Minergy subjects sludge to extremely high temperatures to produce a glass aggregate used in a variety of construction materials.Barb ScheiberThe glass came from a company named Minergy, whose technology is currently being used in a plant at the North Shore Sanitary District in Illinois that won a 2008 Global Grand Project Innovation Award from the International Water Association. Instead of selling dried sludge as fuel, Minergy?s technology uses it as energy for its own process: it combusts pre-dried sludge to create temperatures so high?roughly 2400 to 2700 degrees Fahrenheit?that the minerals that would usually be left over as ash melt into molten glass. When this hot liquid is put into cold water, it shatters, creating the tiny black chips in my jar. It?s as if the sludge consumed itself, avoiding the problem of residual ash by never making it to begin with. The resulting aggregate can be used in shingles, asphalt, concrete, ceramic tiles, sandblasting grit, and a variety of other construction materials. It?s exciting stuff, but the North Shore Sanitary District has run into a very mundane problem: human hair. Flushed down shower drains, incorporated into sludge, hair (and other similarly stringy objects) clogged NSSD?s machinery, which has been temporarily shut down as its operators work on a solution. That?s the thing about sludge, though?it has tremendous potential for reuse, but a lot of dirty details. To find out how the various technologies stack up, I called James Smith, a senior environmental engineer who?s been at EPA for more than 40 years and has played an important role in shaping biosolids regulations. He said that the ?world is watching the outcome of the SlurryCarb start-up,? and he was especially positive about a technology called the Cannibal process, which can reduce the volume of sludge produced by up to 80 percent, partially by getting different types of microbes in the sludge to eat each other. But as for the bigger question of the future of sludge? ?It depends on whose Ouija board you have,? Smith said. ?I think what we?re all hoping for is [a process that leaves] very few residuals to deal with, and for whatever we do have to deal with to be the highest quality possible.? Unfortunately, regardless of which processes emerge, all these alchemies are likely to come with a catch. The solids in wastewater are so diluted that they need to be dried before their energy is recovered, which requires a lot of energy itself. Even worse, while these technologies might prevent toxic chemicals from seeping into farmland, they also prevent nutrients from returning to the soil?a deficit that brings increased use of synthetic fertilizers and their accompanying host of problems. An ideal solution would do one without the other, nourishing the dirt without contaminating it. But until we figure out how to better segregate our waste streams, even the best new techniques will still suffer from this critical, unavoidable flaw. http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-06-sludge-energy-business/ From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 07:26:13 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 07:26:13 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> The Grist Sludge Report - Regulating Biosolids - Crap Happens Message-ID: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-05-biosolids-section-503-epa The Sludge Report Regulating biosolids 4 May 2009 by Catherine Price Food, Environmental Health Read More About agriculture, US EPA, waste, water, water pollution PrintEmail Share Comment Biosolids are regulated under what?s known colloquially (to those who speak colloquially about sewage) as the 503 Sludge Rule, which came into effect in 1993. Technically titled ?40 CFR 503?Standards for the Use and Disposal of Sewage Sludge,? it?s complicated enough that EPA came out with a ?Plain English? guide to help make sense of the rule?s requirements and details. It?s not light reading, so here are the basics: The most recent version of the 503 rule regulates seven heavy metals in sludge. It also divides biosolids into two categories for land application, Class A and Class B, based on the number of detectable pathogens that they?re allowed to contain. For biosolids to qualify as Class A, they have to be treated with a method that?s been shown to ?persistently reduce pathogens in biosolids,? according to USDA agronomist Rufus Chaney, like composting or heat drying. The resulting material must contain non-detectable levels of fecal coliform or salmonella, enteric viruses and helminth ova (i.e. parasitic worms) according to EPA-specified testing methods. Class B biosolids must also be treated to reduce pathogens, but the only pathogen reduction requirement is for fecal coliform. To prove they qualify as Class A or Class B, biosolids can either be tested directly for pathogens, or the sewage plants can demonstrate that they?ve used a treatment process which has been proven to achieve the required level of reduction. Class A biosolids?which can be created through methods like heat drying and composting?can be used on most land without any restrictions (hence Milorganite); Class B biosolids have regulations about where and how they can be used, including waiting periods before crops can be harvested for human consumption. EPA doesn?t have any testing requirements for other potential contaminants like synthetic chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, pharmaceuticals, pathogens or metals not listed in the 503 guidelines, or radioactive material (which can be excreted in the urine and feces of people going through radiation therapy). Chaney, a senior researcher at the Agricultural Research Service who is supportive of land application, claims that there?s no need to test for additional substances because ?biosolids have not been found to contain levels of these materials which cause risk to humans or the environment.? He also commented in a separate message that ?there has been no evidence of infection from Class B biosolids used according to EPA regulations, and certainly none from Class A biosolids products??a statement that anti-sludge advocates criticize. As Caroline Snyder, founder of Citizens for Sludge Free Land, put it to me in an email, ?Since EPA and Chaney and the rest have bent over backwards NOT to document adverse effects, have worked to COVER up adverse effects, [and] used fraudulent data in these cover-ups, it is not surprising that there is little documented evidence.? From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 07:32:01 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 07:32:01 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> The Grist Sludge Report Part 3: The Composting Toilet Message-ID: SludgeWatch Admin: This is such a great, well written series on sludge and poo: With the photos and the video you should really read this in the web version: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-07-toilet-composting-humanure ............................................. Flushed Away For some eco-pioneers, solving the sludge problem means getting their hands dirty 6 Posted 10:54 PM on 6 May 2009 by Catherine Price Part 3 of Grist?s special series on poop. Laura Allen, a 33-year-old teacher from Oakland, California, has a famous toilet. To be honest, it?s actually a box, covered in decorative ceramic tiles, sitting on the cement floor of her bathroom like a throne. No pipes lead to or from it; instead, a bucket full of shavings from a local wood shop rests on the box next to the seat with a note instructing users to add a scoopful after making their ?deposit.? Essentially an indoor outhouse, it?s a composting toilet, a sewerless system that Allen uses to collect her household?s excrement and transform it into a rich brown material known to fans as ?humanure.? Laura Allen?s famous composting toilet. Courtesy Nicolas Boullosa via FlickrAllen is a founding member of an activist group devoted to the end of sewage as we know it. Her toilet recently made an appearance in the Los Angeles Times?which might explain why she didn?t seem surprised when I emailed her out of the blue to ask if I could use it. Lifting the seat, she showed me a seal of insulating foam tape she?d put around its edges to prevent odors from wafting into the bathroom and then pointed out a funnel-like contraption hanging from the front of the toilet that diverted urine away from crap. The separated waste collected in two containers sitting several feet below the toilet seat, accessible through a hatch cut into the side of the house: the urine flowed into a plastic jug formerly used for olive oil, the feces into a bucket labeled ?feta cheese.? A year from now, once it?s composted, Allen and her roommates will use this excrement to fertilize their fruit trees. To most Americans, Allen?s system would seem eccentric, if not downright weird. But while feta cheese buckets are relatively new creations, humans have used shit as fertilizer since the dawn of agriculture?the nitrogen in our urine is an excellent fertilizer, and feces, itself nutrient-rich, is a great soil amendment. It wasn?t until the turn of the 20th century that water-based sewer systems became commonplace in the United States; after that, ?sewer farms,? where crops were irrigated with untreated wastewater, were commonplace. Even today, the majority of the world?s population doesn?t have access to flush toilets, making us the anomaly, rather than the norm. As public health advocates will be quick to point out, the switch to sewers helps protects us from sewage borne diseases. But it also breaks the nutrient cycle: instead of returning nutrients to the land from where they came, we now reclassify excrement as waste and use chemical fertilizers to replace it. From an agricultural standpoint, the crazy thing isn?t the idea of using our crap as fertilizer. It?s how far we?ve strayed. With this in mind, the idea behind our current system would seem to make sense: more than half of America?s sewage sludge is applied to land. But there?s a crucial difference between humanure and modern sludge, known in the sewage industry as ?biosolids.? Humanure is made from pure human excrement. It can still contain residues from pharmaceuticals that pass through our bodies, but it lacks the industrial chemicals or other contaminants that make sludge so controversial. Biosolids, on the other hand, can count as ingredients everything that?s dumped into our sewer system, including a mixture of domestic and industrial waste that can include heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and thousands of other pollutants?and its long-term effects on soil are impossible to predict. The main ingredient of biosolids and humanure?feces?might be the same, but when it comes to their potential to contaminate soil, the two materials are fundamentally different. It?s difficult to judge what will ultimately have worse consequences for agriculture and human health: spreading the contaminants in modern sewage sludge on soil or diverting sewage?s nutrients away from land. (Both are bad in different ways.) But one thing is certain: creating pure humanure with our current wastewater treatment system would require segregating our waste streams at their sources, which, thanks to the way our sewers are piped, is impossible to do. Allen left me alone so that I could experience her bathroom firsthand and then took me outside to see the next step in the process. We walked through a small chicken coop to three 55-gallon barrels full of decomposing feces arranged in a row next to the side of the house, each of which would sit for at least a year in order to compost thoroughly. Covered with netting to prevent flies and plastic lids to keep out rain, they didn?t smell. Laura Allen with a bucket of humanure in her garden at her house in Oakland, Calif. Courtesy Nicolas Boullosa via FlickrBut then Allen reached for a compost auger?a corkscrew-like device with a hand crank that breaks apart the composting material and adds oxygen?and worked it into the compost. The air filled with the strong, unpleasant odor of methane, a byproduct of anaerobic composting. ?It must have gotten some water into it, that?s why it smells so bad,? Allen said, pulling up the auger and revealing some confused-looking earthworms. She examined the moist brown material clinging to the corkscrew. ?This one?s probably about seven months old.? Allen and her roommates? devotion to their toilet is unusual, but they?re far from alone?a small but growing number of Americans is unhooking from septic tanks and sewer systems (or, in some cases, never hooking in) and composting their waste. If you want to get a sense of how excited people can get about the results, check out the website of a man named Joseph Jenkins. A slate-roofing contractor in Pennsylvania who?s been shitting in a bucket since the 1970s, Jenkins and his followers dream of a day where entire cities might compost their excrement, with municipal collection services similar to today?s recycling programs. To help jumpstart the revolution, Jenkins self-published a guide in 2005 called The Humanure Handbook that features chapter with titles like ?Crap Happens? and an illustrated character named ?Tommy the Turd.? For his first run, Jenkins could only afford to print 600 copies; he?s now sold more than 33,000, and portions of the handbook have been translated into Spanish, Norweigan, Korean, Hebrew, Mongolian and Chinese. The challenge these simple systems face, however, is that most Americans don?t like the idea of homemade toilets. We don?t like thinking about our shit, period. So a middle ground has emerged: commercially designed toilets that look what you?re used to, but have composting systems built in. The BioLet, originally a Swedish design, includes a heater to speed decomposition and aerates its contents with mechanized arms. The Sun-Mar has a built-in crank and a removable tray that catches finished material. The Envirolet, the American version of a design by a Norweigan company called Vera Milj?, uses a carousel system?sort of like a lazy Susan?to keep batches separate so that new waste doesn?t mix with old. Biolytix, an Australian wastewater treatment system designed to fit into a conventional septic tank, comes pre-seeded with an ecosystem of worms, beetles and microorganisms that filter and break down waste. Bio-Sun, Aquatron, Equaris, Phoenix?like ?biosolids,? they all manage to sound vaguely green while avoiding any allusions to the substance they?re meant to treat. Talk to people who have owned them, though, and there?s no getting around that what you?re dealing with is shit. With a typical toilet, all you need to do is flush; with a composting toilet, everything you produce stays right where you left it?and some of these commercial designs, while tempting, aren?t big enough to handle daily use. (Horror stories abound.) Joseph Jenkins sells his book online, and he has posted a series of instructional videos about humanure on his YouTube channel (watch one below). Courtesy Jenkins PublishingSuccessful composting, while not rocket science, requires attention, devotion and considerable knowledge of the process; far from being an informational brochure, The Humanure Handbook, is 255 pages long. The environmentalist in me wanted to embrace the idea behind Allen?s toilet?really, I did?but when it came to dealing with my own excrement, I was like most Americans: the only time I wanted to look back in the bathroom was to flush. To find out if there were any way to create a composting toilet that wouldn?t make an average American recoil in disgust, I traveled to Bainbridge Island, a 35-minute ferry ride from Seattle. My destination was IslandWood, an outdoor learning center tucked into 255 wooded acres of a former tree farm that?s home to one of the country?s only large-scale composting toilets. Known as the Clivus Multrum M-15, this particular system can handle up to 36,000 uses per year. When I reached IslandWood, I was welcomed by Brian Bonifaci, the man responsible for maintaining the Clivus system. Dressed in Carhartt clothing from top to bottom, Bonifaci led me to the basement room where the compost was collected in two large, gray boxes. With sloping floors designed to make it easier to remove finished material, each bin was nearly 10 feet long and over seven feet high, with thick black pipes connecting them to four toilets sitting directly above. After showing me a trap door where finished compost could be removed, Bonifaci opened a hatch on the upper part of the box so that I could see what was inside: a giant mound of feces, toilet paper, and wood chips. It was level except for an upside down cone that had formed where the most recent deposits had dropped. But even though my face was practically in the box, I couldn?t smell its contents?an exhaust fan was constantly pulling fresh air into the bin and out a vent on the roof so that no odors could leak into the room where I was standing. (The same fan also pulled air down the toilet so the smell couldn?t escape upwards into the bathroom.) ?What do you need to do to maintain this?? I asked Bonifaci. ?I add a bucket of wood chips once a week and rake down the cone when it gets too high,? he said. ?That?s about it.? He explained that the fan helped aerate the pile, eliminating the need to turn the compost, and an automatic moistening system added just enough water to keep the material from getting too dry. Eventually, Bonifaci told me, they?d have to remove some of the compost from the bottom of the pile, but so far they hadn?t had to, despite the fact that they?d installed the toilet in 2002?composting dramatically reduces the volume of waste. But then again, IslandWood?s facilities weren?t exactly getting their maximum 36,000 uses per year?Bonifaci told me that some campers, fearful about the toilets? gaping black holes, simply held it till they got to a different building. So I called Don Mills, the sales director for Clivus Multrum, to find out more about what these systems? capacities really were. A metal composting bin that is part of the Clivus Multrum at IslandWood. Catherine PriceMills, who refuses to use the word ?biosolid? unless he can add in a ?so-called? before it, has strong opinions on the current way America deals with sewage. ?I?m calling that shit ?sludge? until I die,? he announced when I used the word ?biosolids? without his preferred modifier. ?And I might die from it!? He then launched into a tirade against land application. But when the subject switched to composting toilets, Mills became cautiously optimistic. ?Look,? he said. ?Selling composting toilets is an uphill struggle, partially because of the psychology around shit and also because of regulations.? But once you sell people on the idea, said Mills, ?there?s no capacity limitation with this technology. We can build it for as many people as would need to use any toilet, any place.? If a bathroom is meant to serve more people than a single Clivus Multrum system can handle, you just add more bins or toilets. Clivus Multrum has a system installed at the Bronx Zoo, for example, that?s designed for over 500,000 uses a year. Mills explained that there are ways to make composting toilets less offensive?Clivus Multrum already has models that use a small amount of foam to ?flush? the excrement to a hidden holding tank, which means the toilets don?t have to sit directly over the composting bins and users don?t have to look down onto a giant mound of shit. Less hands-on customers than Bonifaci can also contract Clivus Multrum to maintain the toilets for them. ?If this were something that were supported by the government,? Mills said, ?if the compost toilet was made a requirement, then many things would change.? Toilets would be designed to be even more palatable to non-environmentalists, he said, and large-scale municipal collection systems would evolve to get the compost out of the toilets and onto fields. Mill is not entirely optimistic?like me, he doubts that composting toilets will become mainstream in America any time soon. Manhattan?s skyscrapers weren?t built with humanure in mind, and as he himself admits, ?the dry toilet at IslandWood is not something most homeowners would regard as satisfactory in their dream house.? But there are plenty of places in the world not yet hooked up to sewer systems?in fact, an estimated 2.6 billion people don?t even have access to toilets. Just as many developing countries adopted cell phones without ever having built the infrastructure for landline phones, poor communities could skip sewer systems and develop an integrated system of composting toilets instead. In India, where 18 percent of the population lacks toilets, a man named Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement, is helping people do just that: he?s developed a line of composting toilets that earned him the prestigious 2009 Stockholm Water Prize. According to the Stockholm Water Institute, the Sulabh Shauchalaya twin pit, pour-flush toilet is being used in more than 1.2 million residences and buildings in India, and its public facilities?spread across 7500 locations?are getting more than 10 million uses per day. America?s a tougher market. But if composting toilets were inoffensive to use, if someone else were responsible for dealing with the compost?just as right now someone else is responsible for treating our watered-down waste?it?s possible to imagine new buildings and communities that incorporate at least some of the recycling schemes of which the humanurists dream. We probably will never eliminate American sludge entirely, but if we were able to divert even a small portion of our excrement away from the sewer system, treat it for pathogens and turn it into compost, we?d be reducing the amount left to deal with. The best solution for the future, it seems, just might be a modernized version of the past. Back at IslandWood, I asked Bonifaci if I could try out the facilities, and soon found myself alone in the restroom. Thanks to the fan sucking air into the toilet, the only noticeable odor was a faint aura of lemongrass cleaning products and the lingering scent of lavender soap. Since the Clivus Multrum doesn?t divert urine, when I sat down, I didn?t have to aim. The biggest tangible difference between it and a conventional toilet was the breeze?which, if you?re not expecting it, can be a little surprising. But there was no odor, no wood chips, no worry that in a week or two or three, I?d be responsible for handling the waste I?d just produced. The experience was remarkably unremarkable. It required so little thought that when I got up, I didn?t even need to turn back to flush. ? A video on humanure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZTZTVv6kYs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egrist%2Eorg%2Farticle%2F2009%2D05%2D07%2Dtoilet%2Dcomposting%2Dhumanure&feature=player_embedded From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 11:21:55 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 11:21:55 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> California - ENCLOSED sludge compost facility dedication Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: The tiny community of Hinkley California (yes, Chromium IV and Erin Brokovich) has been fighting a proposed open air sewage sludge compost site for years now. The Nursery Products people say they can't afford to put air emissions controls on the proposed facility. But the facility below is fully enclosed. The bad news is, that composted sewage sludge is still sewage sludge - full of heavy metals, chemicals, pharmacueticals, and other industrial toxins. .......................................................... http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=207215&Itemid=33 May 6 2009 State-of-the-Art Enclosed Regional Composting Facility Dedication Citing a historic partnership,representatives from the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) and theSanitation Districts of Los Angeles County will dedicate a state-of-the-artregional composting facility located in the city of Rancho Cucamonga onFriday, May 8, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The Inland Empire Regional Composting Facility is a joint project, sharingcost and resources, with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and theSanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. The facility compostsbiosolids from wastewater treatment along with a variety of organicresiduals, which have a high level of nutrient value for horticulture andagriculture uses in an environmentally responsible manner. "Today's dedication is a vision being realized," stated Michael Camacho,IEUA Director, Division 5, representing the city of Rancho Cucamonga. "Thecomposting facility utilizes cost-effective methods to better managesalinity and biosolids, as well as clean the air, soil and water." Steve Maguin, Chief Engineer and General Manager of the SanitationDistricts added, "Innovative and progressive projects start with innovativeand progressive leadership, that is what we have in this collaborativeeffort between the boards of IEUA and the Sanitation Districts." Patrick Sheilds, IEUA's executive manager operations added, "This is anexciting project because it promotes the recycling of organics, which isimportant to the region while at the same time helping with our air waterand soil quality." What: Dedication of the Inland Empire Regional Composting FacilityWhere: 12645 Sixth Street Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730When: 10:00 a.m. There will be an opportunity for interviews and photos. The Inland Empire Utilities Agency is a municipal water district located inwestern San Bernardino County, California. The Agency's mission is tosupply imported drinking water and recycled water, to collect and treatwastewater, and provide other utility-related services to the 850,000residents living within its service area. IEUA serves the cities of Chino,Chino Hills, Montclair, Ontario, Upland and the water customers ofCucamonga County Water District, Monte Vista Water District, Fontana WaterCompany, and San Antonio Water Company. For more information visit IEUA'sWeb site at http://www.ieua.org. The Sanitation Districts are a regional agency consisting of 24 independentspecial districts serving over 5 million people in 78 cities andunincorporated territory within Los Angeles County. The SanitationDistricts protect public health and the environment through innovative andcost-effective wastewater and solid waste management, and in doing soconvert waste into resources such as reclaimed water, energy, and recycledmaterials. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 17:53:08 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 17:53:08 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Flushing out unsettling truths about water quality - inadequacy of sewage plants Message-ID: "Our simple ?caffeine detection? tool gives them an easy way to assess fecal contamination and associated health risks from their drinking water.? "?Even sewage treatment?like the system being planned for Victoria?would not remove pharmaceuticals, toxic heavy metal compounds or persistent organic pollutants from the water,? stresses Mazumder." http://ring.uvic.ca/09may07/mazumder.html Flushing out unsettling truths about water quality Flushing out unsettling truths about water quality By Peigi McGillivray For Dr. Asit Mazumder (biology), there?s a lot more to drinking water than what comes out of the tap. ?Canada has the world?s largest source of fresh water,? he says. ?But more and more, communities across the country are struggling to keep their drinking water clean and safe. Even here, where lakes and rivers are plentiful, we can?t take our fresh water for granted.? Mazumder is a world leader in tracking the sources of chemical and microbial contamination of water. He?s known locally for his work with the Capital Regional District, where he has helped develop greater scientific understanding of the ecological factors that affect the quality and safety of our tap water. His research team includes graduate and postdoctoral scientists and undergraduate and co-op students. Southern Vancouver Island provides a unique natural laboratory for this kind of work. There?s the Sooke reservoir?which provides Greater Victoria?s drinking water?sitting in a pristine watershed that has been protected for more than a century. And a mere 5 km away there?s Shawnigan Lake, an unprotected source of drinking water that is affected by logging, permanent and summer homes, agriculture and various recreational activities. ?Nowhere else in the world can you compare two drinking water sources that are so close and alike, yet so different in water quality,? he says. To assess whether a body of water is contaminated, Mazumder and his team have developed a tool that measures the geochemical, biochemical and microbial signatures, or traces, of septic and sewage outflows. ?One of the chemicals we look for is caffeine,? he says. ?When we find it, we know that the water is being contaminated by human waste through septic field seepage or sewage input.? Last spring, Shawnigan Lake residents were shocked to find out from Mazumder and his team that detectable levels of caffeine and pharmaceuticals had been found in their lake. ?Until then, they had no idea they were drinking lake water contaminated by septic seepage,? says Mazumder. ?The community is much more aware now, and is working on improving the situation. Our simple ?caffeine detection? tool gives them an easy way to assess fecal contamination and associated health risks from their drinking water.? The UVic research suggests that this kind of contamination is common in freshwater lakes, rivers and streams bounded by septic fields or receiving untreated sewage. ?Even sewage treatment?like the system being planned for Victoria?would not remove pharmaceuticals, toxic heavy metal compounds or persistent organic pollutants from the water,? stresses Mazumder. ?We have to stop these chemicals from getting into the water in the first place.? To date, more than 20 BC communities, 14 Aboriginal communities across Canada, and communities in Bangladesh, Haiti and Cambodia have used the science and tools developed by Mazumder?s lab to track sources of contamination and improve water quality. ?Fresh water is one of the world?s most precious natural resources. None of us can exist without it,? says Mazumder. ?Our work at UVic is directly linked to our environment, our health, our quality of life and the future of our communities. It?s very rewarding to be involved in research that contributes so significantly to people?s health.? UVic?s Water and Aquatic Sciences Research Program is a community-based research initiative funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), water departments including the CRD and Nanaimo, several federal departments and agencies, and many small to large communities. More: web.uvic.ca/water/ mazumder.jpg From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 20:54:50 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 20:54:50 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Senators introduce legislation to monitor sewer overflows Message-ID: http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/headlines2.html?id=1241447539 Senators introduce legislation to monitor sewer overflows May 4 -- Three Democratic senators from the Northeast have introduced legislation to require sewer plant operators monitor and notify the community of sewer overflows. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. said the Sewage Overflow Right-To-Know Act of 2009 would reduce human illnesses by informing communities of sewer overflows discharging waste into local waterways within 24 hours. Plant operators would need to notify the public, public health officials and other affected downstream entities, including drinking water suppliers, of any sewer overflows that endanger human health. They would also be required to notify state or U.S. EPA officials as soon as possible. Contact Waste & Recycling News senior reporter Bruce Geiselman at 330-865-6172 or bgeiselman at crain.com From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 10 10:22:58 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 10:22:58 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Mother Nature's Day - Feather Fur & Fin Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: For Mother's Day here is Danny Michel singing this bouncy anthem to Mother Nature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ugkain3QUg Feather Fur and Fin I went to the country to escape the noise and lights I laid there in the pine cones all night I woke in the morning and all the trees were gone I got this sinking feeling everything felt wrong There were strip malls and dollar stores and diesel in the air So I slept in a row boat and I anchored far from shore Now I don't hear them chainsaws no more I woke in the morning when someone pulled the plug I was stranded in the lake bottom sludge With all the tires, paint cans and things Well, Every little critter with feather, fur & fin cried to Mother Nature to come back for them for every piece of litter for every little sin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin So I went to an island down the Caribbean way And I laid there in the sand all day I turned on a radio and I heard the DJ say: Well, batten down the hatches down Santa Elena way I swam the ocean reef, with coral all was gray Every little critter with feather, fur & fin cried to Mother Nature to come back for them for every piece of litter for every little sin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin She saw the eagle's eye weeping in the willow She prayed to the mantis and she cried into her pillow for the salmon in the Fraser and the salamander's kin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin (Horns now...play that thing...) Well, I went to the city when all the trees were gone and I laid there on a asphalt lawn And she cried out a thousand days of hurricanes and floods Her face ran with tears and the streets ran with blood Fur coats and sushi boats and diesel in the air Every little critter with feather, fur & fin cried to Mother Nature to come back for them for every piece of litter for every little sin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin She cried for all of them feather, fur & fin Feather, fur & fin she cried for all of them for feather, fur & fin, she cried for every fin http://www.dannymichel.com/newsite/lyrics.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 8 20:17:53 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 20:17:53 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Tamiflu survives sewage treatment - implications for development of resistance by Influenza Virus Message-ID: Tamiflu survives sewage treatment 04.10.2007 Swedish researchers have discovered that oseltamivir (Tamiflu), an antiviral drug used to prevent and mitigate influenza infections, is not removed or degraded during normal sewage treatment. Consequently, in countries where Tamiflu is used at a high frequency, there is a risk that its concentration in natural waters can reach levels where influenza viruses in nature will develop resistance to it. Widespread resistance of viruses in nature to Tamiflu increases the risk that influenza viruses infecting humans will become resistant to one of the few medicines currently available for treating influenza. ************************************************************************************************************************ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1991587 Antiviral Oseltamivir Is not Removed or Degraded in Normal Sewage Water Treatment: Implications for Development of Resistance by Influenza A Virus Jerker Fick,1* Richard H. Lindberg,1 Mats Tysklind,1 Paul D. Haemig,2 Jonas Waldenstr?m,2,3 Anders Wallensten,4,5 and Bj?rn Olsen2,6 Oseltamivir is the main antiviral for treatment and prevention of pandemic influenza. The increase in oseltamivir resistance reported recently has therefore sparked a debate on how to use oseltamivir in non pandemic influenza and the risks associated with wide spread use during a pandemic. Several questions have been asked about the fate of oseltamivir in the sewage treatment plants and in the environment. We have assessed the fate of oseltamivir and discuss the implications of environmental residues of oseltamivir regarding the occurrence of resistance. A series of batch experiments that simulated normal sewage treatment with oseltamivir present was conducted and the UV-spectra of oseltamivir were recorded. Findings: Our experiments show that the active moiety of oseltamivir is not removed in normal sewage water treatments and is not degraded substantially by UV light radiation, and that the active substance is released in waste water leaving the plant. Our conclusion is that a ubiquitous use of oseltamivir may result in selection pressures in the environment that favor development of drug-resistance. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 11 14:22:57 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 14:22:57 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Ontario: Quinte West - $7M sludge storage facility Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: The question is: if they are going to store sludge - what are they going to do with it ultimately? Storing it does give them time to decide - and options. .................................... Quinte West waiting for funding Posted By Ernst Kuglin ? The Trentonian May 7, 2009 The waiting game is on in Quinte West. The city has applied for upwards of $15.5 million in provincial-federal funding contained in the Build Canada Fund and the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund for four major projects. Under both funding programs, the city?s share is one-third, but only if the applications are successful. That would translate into a $5.1 million investment by the city. Topping the list is a $7 million onsite biosolids storage facility. An application was made under round two of the Build Canada fund. Public works director Chris Angelo said the storage facility could provide the city with unlimited possibilities such as using the transfer of waster to energy. Angelo said the facility would include dewatering capabilities, providing the city with various options for biosolids disposal. Quinte West has submitted applications for three other projects under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, announced in January by the federal government. Council has discussed constructing a new watermain from the existing service in Frankford south to Batawa, but has never made a firm decision. Cost of the project is expected to be around $5 million. A $2 million plan on redeveloping the 30-year-old Robert Patrick Marina in Trenton could go ahead if the city?s application is successful. The community and boaters have cited concerns over surrounding the marina entrance and docking facilities, saying they are in need of repair. A third application has been submitted for $1.6 million worth of upgrades to North Murray Street. http://www.trentonian.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1557684 From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 11 14:25:53 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 14:25:53 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Ontario - Gov't has done no sludge health studies but wants to remove waste permit safeguards Message-ID: http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2009/05/04/excerpts-from-the-ontario-legislature-re-sewage-sludge-may-4-2009/ Ontario Legislature - On Sewage Sludge (Hansard) May 2008 SEWAGE SLUDGE Mr. Howard Hampton: My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Many municipalities and environmental groups are opposed to the McGuinty government's scheme to spread sewage sludge on farm fields without a waste disposal permit. A few months ago, the minister said that the McGuinty government had "participated, conducted and funded" studies about the spreading of sewage sludge on farm fields, but not one of the studies listed by the McGuinty government considered the human health impacts from spreading sewage sludge on farm fields. My question is this: Why is the McGuinty government going to allow the spreading of sewage sludge on farm fields without a waste disposal permit when you have failed to examine the human health impacts of that sewage sludge? Hon. Leona Dombrowsky: To the Minister of the Environment. Hon. John Gerretsen: Well, I can tell you that within the Ministry of the Environment, we are concerned about people's health and safety. That has always been our primary concern. We are studying this situation, and we will get back to the member in due course. The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary? Mr. Howard Hampton: In fact, you're far beyond studying. What you're proposing to do is to allow these companies to spread sewage sludge on farm fields without any kind of permit whatsoever. You've ignored the studies-for example, one done at the University of Toledo, which shows there is increased risk of abdominal bloating, jaundice, weight loss, respiratory, gastrointestinal and chronic diseases among people living within one mile of farm fields that have had sewage sludge spread on them. You're going to open up the system. You're going to make it difficult for people to find out when sewage sludge is being spread, what kind of sewage sludge is being spread and how much of it is being spread, because they won't require a permit anymore. Will you commit to doing the human health impact studies before you create this free-for-all? Hon. John Gerretsen: As the member well knows, this has been done in the province of Ontario in one way or another for over the past 30 years. We always rely on the best science. We will continue to do that. We will make sure that the health and safety of the people of Ontario is protected at all times. Thank you. The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): The time for question period has ended. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 12 10:27:56 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 10:27:56 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Petition filed after woman dies of swine flu Message-ID: Petition filed after woman dies of swine flu May 11, 2009 LAURA B. MARTINEZ/The Brownsville Herald http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/woman-97913-dies-filed.html The husband of a Harlingen woman who became the first American to die of the swine flu virus wants to know if the operators of the pig farm where it is believed that virus originated are responsible for his wife's death. Steven Trunnell filed a petition Monday in Cameron County on behalf of his late wife Judy Dominguez Trunnell, 33, a Mercedes special education teacher, who died May 5 as a result of the H1N1 virus or swine flu. The Mercedes teacher was eight months pregnant when she developed flu- like symptoms. She gave birth by Ceaserean section to a baby girl and died shortly thereafter. Health officials determined that she died from complications of the swine flu. Steven Trunnell's petition wants information from Smithfield Foods Inc., doing business as Granjas Carroll de Mexico, the operator of the pig farm where the swine flu is believed to have originated, the lawsuit states. The petition will determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against Smithfield Foods Inc. The pig farm, located in La Gloria, Veracruz, Mexico, is partly owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc. Steven Trunnell is seeking a court order to authorize depositions, or oral examinations, of company officials, employees and agents to investigate wrongful death claims against Smithfield Foods Inc. Trunnell, a paramedic, believes unsanitary conditions at Smithfield Foods may have caused the development and spread of the flu virus, the petition states. In the petition, filed by attorneys Marc G. Rosenthal and J. Linn Watson, states "that there may be evidence which links the creation of the newest strain of the deadly swine flu...with Smithfield Foods' humongous pig farm operation in Mexico, which under the joint control of Smithfield Foods, has been allowed to lapse into a breeding ground of immense unsanitary proportions for a deadly virus." This petition is necessary to determine if Smithfield Foods' "mistreatment of property, people and animals in Veracruz, Mexico contributed to the creation and propagation of a new strain of deadly swine influenza," the petition states. The petition claims that the swine flu originated in and around "manure lagoons" of Smithfield Foods' pig farming operation. The filing comes a day after the United Press International reported that health officials have found no connection between the swine flu virus and the pig farm. However, residents there have long blamed the farming operation for a variety of illnesses, the UPI reported. Smithfield "believes that it has had no negative impact on the local community or the environment through its operations," company official Gregg Schmidt said. The H1N1 virus, or swine flu virus, is being blamed for three deaths in the United States. The first was a Mexican toddler who was treated at a Houston hospital. Judy Dominguez Trunnell was the second death in the U.S. and the first American. The third was Washington man believed to be his 30s. Worldwide, swine flu has been responsible for 61 deaths, with 56 of those from Mexico, The Associated Press reported. There are about 4,800 of confirmed cases in 30 countries, according to the World Health Organizations and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 12 10:33:07 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 10:33:07 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Swine flu spread matches previous flu pandemics Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Since viruses tend to slip through the treatment process and end up in sludge and effluent, we need to look at the role of sewage treatment plants and sewage sludge spreading in spreading the virus...as well as looking at manure management of hog barns. ...................................... http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090511/full/news.2009.469.html Published online 11 May 2009 | Nature Nature News Swine flu spread matches previous flu pandemics New analysis supports pandemic designation. Heidi Ledford An early analysis of the H1N1 swine-associated flu virus outbreak suggests that the virus spreads at a rate comparable to that of previous influenza pandemics. The results, published online today by Science1 and compiled by the World Health Organization Rapid Pandemic Assessment Collaboration, support the designation of swine flu as a pandemic but also indicate that the fatality rates thus far are lower than those seen during the 1918 flu outbreak or those anticipated from an avian influenza pandemic. Exposure to other H1N1 strains may mean people are more resistant to the current swine-associated strain.CDC"It's a virus that almost certainly will cause a global epidemic," says study author Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London. "But it's not the catastrophic scenario people were fearing for bird flu." Early results The study focuses largely on data from Mexico, where the earliest known infections occurred. Such data are still preliminary, and it is too early to gain a complete picture of how the virus will behave in the population as a whole. But early modelling efforts can give officials an indication of what may lie ahead, says Ferguson. By plugging early data into statistical models, Ferguson and his collaborators determined that 6,000?32,000 individuals had been infected in Mexico by late April. The team also used epidemiological data and information about the virus' genetic diversity to determine that the swine flu virus has a basic reproductive rate ? a number that takes into account how easily the virus spreads within a population ? of 1.2?1.6. Seasonal flu typically hovers around 1.2, whereas the second, more severe wave of the 1918 flu reached about 2. "So far, I would put it at the cusp of a severe seasonal strain or a mild pandemic strain," says epidemiologist Ira Longini of the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle, who was not involved with the study. But Longini notes that these calculations are based on data compiled after the peak flu season. "It's hard to tell what it will be during the late fall and winter months in North America," he adds. Children hardest hit The World Health Organization analysis also supports observations that the swine flu strikes children more than the elderly ? an unusual pattern compared with that of seasonal flu. When Ferguson and his collaborators attempted to fit their models to data collected from a community outbreak of swine flu in La Gloria, Veracruz, they found that the data fit best when susceptibility to the virus varied according to age. One possibility, says Ferguson, is that H1N1 viruses are commonly seen in normal seasonal flu epidemics. Adults are more likely to have encountered those viruses and developed immunity to them, and it may be that in some cases this immunity is enough to provide protection against swine flu. This is still a hypothesis, however, and researchers have not yet found evidence that there is crossover protection from immunity against previous strains of H1N1. Meanwhile, fatality rates from this season's swine flu outbreak are so far lower than those observed during the 1918 pandemic but on par with those seen in the milder 1957 influenza pandemic. The new analysis puts these rates at around 0.4%, but the data are very preliminary. Nevertheless, healthcare providers should be on alert for the upcoming flu season, Ferguson says. In a normal flu year, officials expect about 10% of the population to become sick, whereas Ferguson estimates that 30% of the population could become sick if the swine flu returns next season. "This means that even if the virus is as mild as normal seasonal flu ? and people die from seasonal flu every year ? there will be a substantially greater burden on health systems," he says. References Fraser, C. et al. Science 10.1126/science.1176062 (2009). From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 12 10:37:35 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 10:37:35 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Juneau Alaska - looking for sludge and trash solutions Message-ID: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 City needs rights to trash before it can incinerate Sewage incinerator can be kept going another 10 to 15 years By Jeremy Hsieh | JUNEAU EMPIRE City officials shouldn't be making decisions about expanded recycling programs, Juneau's privately owned landfill or major investments in incinerators and waste-to-energy plants until the city lawfully controls the trash stream, the city's public works director said Monday. "In my mind, that's the most important thing," Joe Buck told the Juneau Assembly on Monday. By the end of the year, city officials want to have a proposal in front of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to receive control of Juneau's trash stream from Arrow Refuse, a state regulated monopoly that handles trash pick-up in Juneau. "Until then, we're talking about building an incinerator for which we cannot direct our waste stream," Buck said. Buck was before the Assembly to report on the findings of trash consultants SCS Engineers, whom the city hired to look into the possibility of piggybacking municipal solid waste incineration with sewage sludge incineration, given the understanding that the city's sewage sludge incinerator is aging and coming due for replacement. Buck has estimated the cost of a new sewage incinerator between $15 million and $17 million. Incineration of Juneau's trash ended in 2004 because of cost, age of the incinerators and toughening environmental rules. Amid the sight and smell of the growing landfill near Lemon Creek, locals have criticized the decision, though building a new incinerator for trash alone would drive up the cost of garbage disposal to an unsustainably high rate. The engineers recommended pursuing a traditional waste-to-energy system that burns trash and sewage sludge at high temperatures and captures energy-rich gases as a byproduct to generate electricity. Based on a rough estimate, the consultants report that such a facility could dispose of the city's trash at about $72 per ton - 40 percent less than the per-ton cost Waste Management charges to dispose of garbage at its Lemon Creek landfill. The engineers cautioned pursuit of the sexier, but less tested option of plasma arc gasification, a process that uses superheated gases at temperatures so extreme that matter doesn't combust, but molecularly disassembles itself, which can then be turned into fuel gases to generate electricity. "Absent this additional operating experience, SCS believes the CBJ would be taking on a significant and unnecessary level of financial risk should they develop a (plasma) plant and it fails to perform," the consultants wrote in their memo to the city. An incinerator or waste-to-energy system would still create landfill bound solid waste, but a greatly reduced volume, thereby extending the life of the landfill that's now estimated to be at capacity in 25 to 30 years. Before Waste Management shut down its trash incinerators in 2004, the landfill had an estimated 75 years left. "The whole process of dealing with the waste stream is a balancing process. How much to recycle, how much to landfill, how much turn to energy," Buck said. "Not one or the other, a mix of them." Despite the consultants cautions, Assembly members Sara Chambers and Randy Wanamaker said future feasibility studies shouldn't exclude plasma as an option. Chambers said feeding the entire waste stream to a plasma facility is appealing, logistically and financially, and could do away with the need to recycle or go to a potentially expensive curbside recycling program. "I don't think people are wedded to the thought of recycling, they just don't want to see it landfilled, they want to see it put to a productive use. ... This might be a solution," Chambers said. Wanamaker took issue with the idea that their efforts are solely to keep the landfill viable longer. "My goal is to clean up Lemon Creek, empty the landfill, restore it. Not to extend its life," he said. When the consultants were given their task in March, city officials were under the impression that they were under the gun to replace the aging sewage sludge incinerator, built in 1992, at the Juneau-Douglas Treatment Plant after an inspection in the fall gave it three to five more years of operating life. In the meantime, Buck sought a second opinion and had another more thorough inspection done, this time with the incinerator shut down and the inspector literally inside it. The inspector said the incinerator's life span could be stretched another 10 to 15 years for an estimated $600,000 to $700,000, Buck said. The Assembly didn't take any formal action on the information, but asked the acting City Manager Kim Kiefer to come back to it with recommendations on resources city staff need to expedite the process with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. The next step would be a true feasibility study and analysis, which would firm up estimates and provide more concrete options at a cost between $200,000 and $300,000, Buck said, though the second opinion on the incinerator gives the city some breathing room. "That takes the pressure off of us," Buck said. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 11 18:59:34 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 18:59:34 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Pigs recovering from swine flu: "cull entire herd", Alberta farmer urges Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Looks like people can get Swine Flu from people, people can get Swine Flu from pigs, Pigs can get Swine flu from people, pigs can get Swine Flu from pigs And they can all get swine flu from pig poop or people poop. So....why are we putting fecal waste from Ontarians who have swine flu on farmlands ? Yup...Toronto's got people with swine flu pooping into sewers and septics...and land application of those wastes. Imagine the possibilities: the Swine Flu can go from the fecal waste and sludges to infect wildlife and be transported for thousands of miles on migratory bird flight paths...or just follow Toronto Terratec sewage sludge trucks. ..................................... http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/05/11/edmonton-pig-farmer-swine-flu.html Cull entire pig herd, Alberta farmer urges Last Updated: Monday, May 11, 2009 CBC News Alberta farmer Arnold Van Ginkel says he's frustrated with how officials are handling the quarantine of his pig herd after some of the animals tested positive for swine flu. (CBC) The owner of an Alberta pig farm placed under quarantine by Canadian authorities because some of the animals were sick with swine flu said Monday he doesn't understand why his entire herd wasn't culled right away. "It's a small farm. Take the pressure off everybody. I think even off the whole world, over the whole pig industry, everywhere. Get rid of the herd," Arnold Van Ginkel said in his first media interview. "It's already going on over nine, 10 days? It's a waste of time and money." All 2,200 of Van Ginkel's pigs on his farm near Rocky Mountain House, Alta., were placed under quarantine in late April after some of his animals became sick with the new strain of the H1N1 influenza A virus. It's believed the animals caught the illness from a carpenter who had recently travelled to Mexico. Van Ginkel said he is frustrated and angry with officials who appear not to know what the next steps should be and what they should do about his herd, which remains under quarantine. "They should have a plan. They don't," he said. "They don't know what to do. Leave me behind and they tell me nothing." On Friday, 500 of the animals were destroyed to help ease overcrowding. Van Ginkel hasn't been able to ship any of his animals since the quarantine was put in place. He said that he fears he'll never be able to sell any of them, and that delaying a decision to cull the entire herd is hurting the entire Canadian pork industry. "Government, please make a decision. Don't wait and sit back. Help the whole industry. Help our farm," he said. In the end, Van Ginkel said, he will probably have to destroy his herd anyway because he doubts anyone will want to buy his animals. His expectation of breaking even this year may need to be adjusted, he said, even though he was compensated for the animals that were destroyed last week. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Wed May 13 10:53:06 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 10:53:06 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Rialto Calif: Rentech - Synthetic fuels from wood waste and sewage sludge Message-ID: http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2671 >From the May 2009 Issue Rentech to build renewable diesel, green power plant By Anna Austin Posted May 13, 2009, at 9:35 a.m. CST Rentech Inc. recently unveiled plans to build a plant in Rialto, Calif., for the production of synthetic fuels such as renewable diesel and electric power from waste biomass feedstocks. Rentech CEO and President Hunt Ramsbottom gave an overview of the project during a conference call May 12, and provided details of what has been accomplished to date as well as a timeline of progress for the future. ?The Rialto project is a result of the integration of the Rentech?s process with a biomass gasification technology provided by SilvaGas Corp.,? Ramsbottom said. ?Silva?s process works best with the types of urban waste feedstocks that we plan to use.? Rentech has secured a long-term licensing agreement with SilvaGas for the Rialto project, and a commitment for additional licenses for other potential waste-to-energy projects. ?The key to this integration?this is a very important point?is that we have developed the conditioning and clean-up technologies that are required to integrate biomass gasification with synthetic fuels technology,? Ramsbottom said. ?This has been a significant barrier to entry into the renewable synthetic fuels market.? Since biomass gasification technologies are not wildly available on a commercial scale, as a first step in developing the project Rentech compiled a list of potential gasification technologies to examine which ones could meet the company?s syngas requirements, according to Ramsbottom. ?Over the past two years, our technological and engineering professionals have evaluated these technologies and determined that only a few gasification processes have the potential to produce high-quality syngas from a range of biomass feedstocks,? he said. ?Although the syngas levels they produce can be useful for power or heating applications, it still requires enhancements to achieve levels acceptable for production of high-quality synthetic fuels. The required technologies to enhance syngas levels are not commercially available.? As a result, Rentech spent several months developing its own syngas conditioning and clean-up technologies, which are currently patent-pending, Ramsbottom said. The Rialto Renewable Energy Center will use urban woody green waste and processed sewage sludge to produce about 25,000 gallons of synthetic fuels per day and export approximately 35 megawatts of electricity, enough to power roughly 30,000 homes in the region. Rentech has obtained an exclusive option for a site adjacent to the city wastewater treatment plant and EnerTech?s Rialto Regional Biosolids Processing Facility, which will provide treated sewage sludge and biosolids under a long-term supply agreement. Ramsbottom said due to its near-zero carbon content, he believes renewable diesel will be in high demand as California looks to meet carbon reduction requirements. He expects Rentech to sell its power under California?s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires utilities to increase electricity produced from renewable sources by at least 1 percent per year to 20 percent by 2010. Regarding the timeline, Ramsbottom said during 2009, the company will continue advancement of development activities and complete front-end engineering and design, and will pursue major permits in 2010. ?In 2011, we will complete detailed engineering, procure equipment and begin construction; in 2012, we will complete construction, commence commissioning and start up,? he said. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 14 00:06:41 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 00:06:41 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Winnipeg Canada researcher arrested from bringing 22 stolen HIV & Ebola vials into USA Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: This isn't much of a fortress when an employee can steal 22 vials of Ebola and HIV materials and walk off with them. Interesting to see a situation where the apparently self-professed thief tells border police he stole the vials he was smuggling into the USA but his old employer claims the guy doesn't have lab pathogens and his new employer NIH won't answer questions. You see, the two agencies who bear the responsibility for protecting the public from these pathogens - the Winnipeg lab whose responsibility it is to protect the vials as their property and the NIH as the destination of these vials- seem to be busier protecting their own public reputation than protecting public health. Here is a nice puff piece about this pathogen 'fortress' in Winnipeg. It might be a fortress but the doors to the Ebola and HIV supply cabinet apparently are not locked. A few weeks ago Baxter Pharmaceutical sent out live virus in vaccines to 38 countries. (see second story below) Now this. There isn't enough security and enforcement of fail safe policies at these facilities. http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html ......................................................... http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/05/13/f-level-4-lab-microbiology.html RESEARCH Super lab Winnipeg's fortress of deadly disease Last Updated: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 CBC News >From the outside, the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health on Arlington Street in Winnipeg's north end looks like any other fairly new government building. Big with lots of glass and concrete. This 2006 photo released by the Public Health Agency of Canada shows a scientist, Dr. Adrienne Meyers, putting waste into a double-door autoclave to sterilize it with heat and pressure before the material leaves the Containment Level 4 laboratory of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. (Public Health Agency of Canada)But there's something special inside. The building houses the National Microbiology Laboratory ? one of only 15 Level 4 facilities in the world. The lab was built to accommodate the most basic to the most deadly infectious organisms ? from run-of-the-mill flu viruses to killers like Ebola and Marburg. The lab - administered by Health Canada ? cost $172 million and took 10 years to design and build. It took two years alone to build the concrete box that encloses the Level-4 lab, which occupies a small part of the entire centre. They waited a year for the massive, monolithic concrete to dry, then covered it with 30 coats of special paint, and then covered the walls and floor with a layer of epoxy 7.5 centimetres thick. Inside, people work in those space-age suits that protect them from the viruses they're handling. The facility is pretty secure. Much of the impetus for the Winnipeg lab ? known locally as "the virology lab" ? comes from a surge of new diseases in the 1980s, when two new strains of Ebola were discovered, and when the medical community took serious notice of HIV-AIDS. Shortly after clusters of people starting coming down with flu symptoms in Mexico in March 2009, health officials sent samples to the Winnipeg lab. On April 24, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq told reporters that the lab confirmed that a never-before-seen swine flu virus was responsible for the outbreak in Mexico. The first strains of lethal diseases arrived at the Winnipeg lab in the summer of 2000, a cargo of six of the most deadly viruses in the world. Small vials contained samples of Lassa fever, Marburg and Junin virus, with three strains of the Ebola virus, all flown in from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Security concerns But, if security requirements are so stringent, and the stuff so deadly, how is it so easily transported over great distances to the lab in Winnipeg? Dr. Ron St. John, the former executive director of Health Canada's Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, says the vials are transported in safety packs, then secured in a triple-container and sealed. "I would stress that these packages are designed to withstand tremendous impact," Dr. St. John explained. "In the famous Lockerbie crash the only package ? the only thing to survive intact in that terrible airplane tragedy ? was a safety pack that had an organism in it." On May 5, 2009, a former researcher at the lab was arrested at a border crossing in North Dakota. He was on his way to his new job at a research lab in Bethesda, Md. Border guards found 22 vials of biological material that he said he had taken from the Winnipeg lab. The 42-year-old researcher ? Konan Michel Yao ? said he had been hired by the Public Health Agency of Canada to work as a PhD fellow at the Winnipeg facility. He told officers he was working on a vaccine for the Ebola virus and HIV. The vials didn't contain virus samples, but did contain material he was using in his research into Ebola and HIV. Yao said he was taking the vials to his new job because he didn't want to start his research from scratch. The Public Health Agency of Canada said there was never a risk to the public. Yao didn't have access to the highest-level pathogens and only worked with non-infectious material. Not in my backyard It is no cinch to build a Level-4 lab, and not just for design and construction challenges. A major problem is to get someone finally to sign off on the labs, which means to authorize them and guarantee that they are safe enough for the deadliest diseases in the world. In 1976, a woman became ill at Pearson International Airport in Toronto and was taken to nearby Etobicoke General Hospital where it was determined that she had contracted Lassa fever. This was enough of a scare to have the hospital shut down for a week. The Ontario government responded by spending $5.8 million to build a Level-4 lab in Etobicoke. But neighbours complained, the new facility was never opened, and the Ontario government decided these types of facilities are a federal responsibility. Another high-security lab was built at Toronto General Hospital, on the 11th floor of the Norman Urquhart Wing. It was sealed off from the rest of the hospital, with its own air supply and electrical system, with a special state-of-the-art particulate filtering system. A special team was trained to work in the isolation unit, intended to handle viruses as lethal as Lassa and Ebola. It was completed in 1984, at a cost of $2 million. But it never opened. Vickery Stoughton, then president of Toronto General Hospital, blamed that on what he called "bureaucratic ass-covering." Stoughton said government inspectors made frequent checks of the new facility, but not one was willing to sign off on the guaranteed safety of a lab dealing with the deadliest diseases in the world. "Instead, they'd recommend that another $100,000 or $200,000 be spent to make absolutely sure it's safe," Stoughton said. ........................ http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS Last Updated: 27th February 2009, 3:26pm Email Story Print Size A A A Report Typo Share with: Facebook Digg Del.icio.us Google Stumble Upon Newsvine Reddit Technorati Feed Me Yahoo Simpy Squidoo Spurl Blogmarks Netvouz Scuttle Sitejot + What are these? The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses. And an official of the World Health Organization?s European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International?s research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria. ?At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present,? medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark. ?But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.? The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany. The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn?t die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses. Public health authorities concerned about what has been described as a ?serious error? on Baxter?s part have assumed the death of the ferrets meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of information it has released about the event. On Friday, the company?s director of global bioscience communications confirmed what scientists have suspected. ?It was live,? Christopher Bona said in an email. The contaminated product, which Baxter calls ?experimental virus material,? was made at the Orth-Donau research facility. Baxter makes its flu vaccine ? including a human H5N1 vaccine for which a licence is expected shortly ? at a facility in the Czech Republic. People familiar with biosecurity rules are dismayed by evidence that human H3N2 and avian H5N1 viruses somehow co-mingled in the Orth-Donau facility. That is a dangerous practice that should not be allowed to happen, a number of experts insisted. Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences. While H5N1 doesn?t easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people. That mixing process, called reassortment, is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created. There is no suggestion that happened because of this accident, however. ?We have no evidence of any reassortment, that any reassortment may have occurred,? said Andraghetti. ?And we have no evidence of any increased transmissibility of the viruses that were involved in the experiment with the ferrets in the Czech Republic.? Baxter hasn?t shed much light ? at least not publicly ? on how the accident happened. Earlier this week Bona called the mistake the result of a combination of ?just the process itself, (and) technical and human error in this procedure.? He said he couldn?t reveal more information because it would give away proprietary information about Baxter?s production process. Andraghetti said Friday the four investigating governments are co-operating closely with the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Control in Stockholm, Sweden. ?We are in very close contact with Austrian authorities to understand what the circumstances of the incident in their laboratory were,? she said. ?And the reason for us wishing to know what has happened is to prevent similar events in the future and to share lessons that can be learned from this event with others to prevent similar events. ... This is very important.? Ted_Man wrote:Posted 2009/05/13 at 8:28 PM ETMore to the point.. Why is security so lacks and why is a former employee allowed to walk without any screening. I once heard of a case where ebola was carried by a fedex courrier. This also should be stopped. Every step of the transport of such matterials should be looked at and inventory should be mandatory on a regular basis with STRICK security clearance enfforced. Otherwise we could have another far worse pandemic on our hands and we've allready seen what a level 5 scare can do From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 14 10:17:18 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 10:17:18 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Pennsylvania - Recreation and Tourism is warned of dangers from sewage sludge spreading Message-ID: May 14th, 2009 Jessica Shirey, Reporter Turner Expresses Concern Over Sludge to CCRTA CLEARFIELD ? Helen Turner, resident of Graham Township, expressed concern about sludge?s affects on local recreation at Wednesday?s regular meeting of the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority. Turner said she learned about the problems with sludge, when she received a notice of plans for it to be brought into the area of her residence. ?I didn?t like it,? she said. She said that she read about its impact, which for her only made the news worse. Turner said that Graham Township officials appealed to those from SYNAGRO, Technologies, Inc. She said SYNAGRO decided not to bring in the sludge. ?It doesn?t mean it?ll work next time,? Turner said. She said that she has chosen to approach those ?higher up? as a result. She called the board?s attention to risks related to sludge?s application to land. According to her presented documents, Dr. David L. Lewis, a research microbiologist and a 30-year veteran of the Emergency Protection Agency Office of Research and Development, pointed out weaknesses in the Sewage Sludge Use and Disposal (503) Rule. Lewis did so in expert testimony in a January 2002 court proceeding after a 26-year-old New Hampshire boy became ill and died after biosolids were spread on a neighboring farmland by SYNAGRO. The 503 rule sets national standards for pathogens and heavy metals in sewage sludge. It also defines standards or management practices for the safe handling and use of sewage sludge. Lewis, however, testified that no pathogens risk assessment was performed for the rule. He said the rule failed an extensive peer review by the EPA?s Office of Research and Development. He said that the EPA?s scientists found the rule ?scientifically indefensible? in regard to safeguarding public health and the environment from heavy metals, organic chemicals and pathogens in land applied sewage sludge. Lewis said that the EPA Inspector General found the EPA?s oversight of land application of sewage sludge under the 503 rule to be ineffective. He said that even the rule assumed a significant risk of infection for up to one year from the pathogens in land-applied sewage sludge, according to Turner?s presented documents. Turner reminded the board that an Osceola area child died as a result of riding though sludge. She said another who lived near a SYNAGRO site died in California. Turner also said that sludge has been applied in Hawk Run in the past. She said that around sludge sites, residents report ?unbearable smells and fumes.? ?The smell pretty much sticks around all summer. Residents don?t even want to go outside,? she said. She said the sludge also attracts flies and rodents. In addition, she said that wildlife is not permitted to graze on lands, where sludge has been applied. She said that she believed it would be difficult to prevent such grazing and questioned whether it was indeed possible. ?I do believe it will affect recreation and hunting. I don?t think you want to shoot a deer, turkey or any wildlife for that matter (if it?s been exposed to sludge),? Turner said. Chairman Wilson Fisher explained that the board typically does not take a public position on matters but appreciated the information. http://www.gantdaily.com/news/43/ARTICLE/51579/2009-05-14.html From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 15 09:59:35 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 09:59:35 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Energy from Sludge Plant opens in Sanford Florida - MaxWest Message-ID: First of its Kind Poop to Power Facility Begins Operation MaxWest Environmental Systems Announces Grand Opening of Sanford?s Gasification Facility May 14 2009 SANFORD, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An innovative MaxWest gasification system, first approved by the City of Sanford, Florida in 2008, begins operating on May 21 at Sanford?s South Water Resource Center. The occasion also marks the official dedication by the City of its new Water Resource Center. The unique MaxWest system will gasify Sanford?s treated wastewater sludge to provide renewable ?green? thermal energy to replace energy from natural gas for the City?s sludge dryer. The energy in sludge is converted to heat safely and economically. Because it is scalable, the gasification facility has sufficient capacity to meet Sanford?s expected growth over coming decades and also to serve as a disposal site for other nearby cities and private waste haulers. This first of its kind, industry-changing technology will provide Sanford with a long-term, green solution for sludge disposal while saving millions of dollars in natural gas fuel costs. Sanford?s 20-year contract with MaxWest also provides long-term energy price stability. And, as the system grows, the opportunity to produce renewable green electricity is available. The City of Sanford has grown considerably over the last 25 years as the Central Florida region has expanded. Sanford has decided to seek environmentally friendly solutions for its waste streams. The MaxWest system fit the bill perfectly. Paul Moore, Sanford?s Utility Director says, ?We?re pleased to be leading the country in using waste to energy technology by being the first to utilize the MaxWest gasification system to convert our biosolids into green energy.? The MaxWest system is not only cost effective, but it is carbon neutral and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases compared to other disposal methods. ?For MaxWest and for the wastewater treatment industry, this a major milestone.? said Bill Baker, Vice President for Marketing, Maxwest. ?The Sanford gasifier will serve as the MaxWest operational education center for interested municipalities across the country. We?re ready to show it off!? MaxWest gasification systems are also in commercial operation for animal and industrial waste. The company has several projects in design or under development in Florida and other states, including plans to gasify horse ?muck? in Ocala/Marion County, Florida, the ?horse capital of the world.? The Sanford Grand Opening will take place on May 21, 2009, beginning at 11 am at Sanford?s South Water Resource Center. City and State officials will be on hand with comments about this industry-changing, renewable energy technology. For more information about MaxWest and the Grand Opening Ceremony, visit www.MaxWestEnergy.com. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090514005628&newsLang=en From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 15 10:27:52 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 10:27:52 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> NY Times: For Urban Gardeners, Lead Is a Concern Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: There have been several stories lately on lead contamination in urban gardens. There is a community garden in Ottawa that was recently closed due to high lead levels. see: Contaminated park brings end to community garden plan http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/04/30/ottawa-090430-soil-contamination.html Most of you will recall the scandal when it was revealled that in Baltimore poor black families who had lead contaminated children's play yards were gifted with 8 inches of free sewage sludge compost. The families were not told that the material was sewage sludge compost. Some of the compost was higher in lead than the lead contaminated soil it was supposed to 'fix'. Rufus Chaney sludge advocate and researcher from the USDA had a hand in the free-sludge-lead-fix-contamination experiments is now claiming that the EPA limit of 400 ppm lead in children's play soil is no longer the only standard. He claims that 'bioavailable lead' is now accepted by EPA as an alternative standard and that the regulator accepts some 'bioavailable lead' tests that he helped pioneer. More information about this 'alternative' lead standard and testing has been requested. ......................................................... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/garden/14lead.html?_r=2&sq=baltimore&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=print May 14, 2009 For Urban Gardeners, Lead Is a Concern By KATE MURPHY FRANK MEUSCHKE?S garden, which surrounds the house he rents in Brooklyn, is a bountiful source of tomatoes, snap peas, green beans, peppers, lettuce and multiple varieties of flowers. It is also, as he recently discovered to his dismay, a rich repository of lead. He had his soil tested last month, and the analysis showed more than 90 times the amount of lead expected to occur naturally. Mr. Meuschke, an artist who specializes in landscape paintings, is well aware of the dangers of lead paint. ?You know not to eat while you paint,? he said. And he had suspected that paint scraped off houses in his neighborhood might have left lead residue in the soil over the years. ?But I really didn?t expect there to be that much,? he said. Harmful even at very low doses, lead is surprisingly prevalent and persistent in urban and suburban soil. Dust from lead-tainted soil is toxic to inhale, and food grown in it is hazardous to eat. Health officials, soil scientists and environmental engineers worry that the increasing popularity of gardening, particularly the urban kind, will put more people at risk for lead poisoning if they don?t protect themselves. Thanks in part to the influence of the local-food movement and to economic considerations, more households in the United States plan, like the Obamas, to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries this year ? seven million more households, according to the National Gardening Association, a 19 percent increase over last year. While the increased physical activity and access to fresh produce promised by this trend are certainly healthy developments, widespread lead contamination means that many people are going to have to do more than wear gloves and sunscreen to garden safely. The presence of lead in soil doesn?t mean gardening is out of the question, but it may require a change in plot design and choice of crops, and soil amendments. ?You won?t know if you?re at risk unless you test your soil,? said Murray McBride, a professor of soil chemistry at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., which because of concerns about lead in community gardens began a free soil-testing program last month in cooperation with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. County extension services as well as local public health departments often offer free soil testing or can recommend schools or companies that do it for a fee. Individuals generally mail dirt in sealed plastic bags for analysis. Mr. Meuschke paid $12 to have his soil tested by the Environmental Sciences Analytic Center at Brooklyn College; some private companies charge as much as $50. The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development advise (but do not require) remediation if lead levels in soil exceed 400 parts per million in children?s play areas and 1,200 p.p.m. elsewhere. But some states and cities have set much lower limits. For example, 100 p.p.m. is considered hazardous in Minneapolis. In the Netherlands, 40 p.p.m. is unacceptable. Unpolluted soil averages 10 p.p.m. Mr. Meuschke?s soil had lead levels of 939 p.p.m. Since 2003, hazardous amounts of lead have been documented in backyard and community gardens in New York as well as in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Washington. Lead-laden soil has been found not only in inner city neighborhoods but also suburban areas. ?It doesn?t matter if you?re rich or poor,? said David Johnson, a professor of environmental chemistry at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, where he has found lead concentrations as high as 65,000 p.p.m. in the yards of upscale homes. ?Lead knows no socioeconomic boundaries.? Excessive lead in soil is the legacy not only of lead paint but also of leaded gasoline, lead plumbing and lead arsenate pesticides. Although these products were outlawed decades ago, their remnants linger in the environment. Lead batteries and automotive parts, particularly wheel balancing weights, are still widely used and are sources of soil contamination. Soil is likely to contain high levels of lead if it is near any structure built before 1978, when lead-based paint was taken off the market, or if a building of that vintage was ever demolished on the site. Pesticides containing lead were often used on fruit trees, so land close to old orchards is also of concern. And beware of soil around heavily trafficked roadways; it, too, is probably laced with lead. But environmental engineers and soil experts said any place is potentially tainted. ?It?s kind of a dirty secret nobody really knows about because we?re all distracted worrying about lead in toys from China,? said Gabriel Filippelli, a professor of earth science at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis who has published several papers on lead accumulation in soil. His and other research indicates lead levels in people?s blood correspond directly to the amount of lead in the soil where they live. ?We have been unable to identify the threshold of lead exposure at which there is no risk to health,? said Mary Jean Brown, chief of lead poisoning prevention in the Healthy Housing Branch of the federal Centers for Disease Control. ?But we know the risk increases with increased exposure.? Fetuses and small children, because of their rapidly developing nervous systems, are more sensitive to and suffer the most harm from lead exposure. Adverse effects include damage to the brain and nervous system, lower I.Q., behavior problems and slow growth. Adults may suffer cognitive decline, hypertension, nerve disorders, muscle pain and reproductive problems. If soil is found to have high levels of lead, experts advise covering it with sod. Those who want to grow flowers or edible crops can either replace the contaminated soil or alkalinize it by adding lime or organic matter such as compost. Soil with a pH level above 7 binds with lead, making it less likely to be absorbed by plants and the human body if the dirt is inadvertently inhaled or ingested. The White House is mixing lime and compost into the soil for its kitchen garden, which according to a National Parks Service analysis has 93 p.p.m. of lead ? an amount above background levels but not considered hazardous to children or adults by the E.P.A.?s standards. Dr. Filippelli recommends planting kitchen gardens with fruiting crops like tomatoes, squash, eggplant, corn and beans because they don?t readily accumulate lead. Lead-leaching crops, he said, include herbs, leafy greens and root vegetables such as potatoes, radishes and carrots. Dirt also clings to these crops, making it hard to wash off and thereby increasing the risk of ingesting lead. But some experts advise planting greens, specifically Indian mustard and spinach, for a couple of seasons as phytoremediation, or plant-based mitigation, before growing crops intended for food. By growing spinach for three months, researchers at the University of Southern Maine lowered the lead count in one garden by 200 p.p.m. Of course, the lead-leaching crop cannot be eaten or composted and must be disposed of as toxic waste. A safer approach, particularly in areas where lead levels exceed 400 p.p.m., is to build raised or contained beds lined with landscape fabric and filled with uncontaminated soil. Luckily for Mr. Meuschke, many of his edible crops are in containers or pots filled with dirt bought at nurseries. But lead dust blowing in the wind or rain splashing off lead-painted structures can sully food grown even in raised beds or containers. Situating gardens away from buildings is therefore a good idea, as is washing produce thoroughly with water containing 1 percent vinegar or 0.5 percent soap. ?It isn?t that you shouldn?t garden if you find lead in the soil, you just have to manage the space,? said Edie Stone, executive director of GreenThumb, a division of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department that supports urban gardening. ?You can?t assume what you buy at the grocery store is any safer.? Peanuts anyone? From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 15 10:29:30 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 10:29:30 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Virginia - Critics say something smells about sludge Message-ID: http://www.topix.com:80/city/richmond-va/2009/05/critics-say-something-smells-about-sludge Critics Say Something Smells about Sludge By Nicholas Langhorne and Jay Scarborough Capital News Service RICHMOND ? Mysterious rashes. Trouble breathing. Foul odors. Contaminated water wells. Those are some of the problems reported by people living near Virginia farms that spread treated sewage sludge as fertilizer. Since 2004, state officials have received 320 complaints about the agricultural use of treated sewage, known in the industry as biosolids. Last year set a record: The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which regulates biosolids, received 85 complaints and inquiries ? up from 61 in 2007. According to the DEQ, sewage treatment plants use physical, chemical and biological processes to treat wastewater and separate the solids. The sludge then is sanitized to control disease-causing organisms and to reduce odor. At that point, it is considered to be biosolids and safe for use on farmland. Neil Zahradka, a spokesman for the DEQ, said the department can provide assurances about the ?regulated parameters? surrounding biosolids: The treatment process kills bacteria that might cause disease, for example. But some citizens worry about unregulated contaminants in sewage ? such as fire-resistant chemicals and chemicals that disrupt the reproductive process. ?The real questions arise from a lot of folks with regards to the parameters that are unregulated,? Zahradka said. ?Some of the things that they?re finding questions about are fire retardants or endocrine restrictors. There hasn?t been any indication yet that these are indeed problems, but there have been some test results that show that yes, their presence has been found.? ?My Initiation into Politics? Mary Carwile lives in a rural neighborhood in Prince Edward County, about 60 miles southwest of Richmond. She wasn?t the political type until a nearby farmer applied to spread biosolids on his property. It was then that Carwile and other citizens helped persuade officials in Prince Edward and several neighboring counties to adopt resolutions on biosolids applications. ?This was my initiation into politics,? Carwile said. In March 2004, she started making phone calls to sludge opponents across Virginia to recruit their help. They formed the Commonwealth Coalition for Responsible Applications of Sludge, which Carwile chairs. Originally, the coalition had members representing 13 Virginia counties. Now, that number has grown to more than 40, Carwile said. The coalition?s growth mirrors the growth of the biosolids industry in Virginia. In 2004, about 232,000 tons of biosolids were spread on 50,000 acres of Virginia farmland. In 2006, approximately 263,000 tons of biosolids were applied to nearly 56,000 acres. Where the Complaints Originate The 320 biosolids complaints received by the state since 2004 came from about 60 counties. They included remote areas along the Chesapeake Bay such as Lancaster County (four complaints) and Northern Virginia suburbs such as Fauquier County (nine complaints) and Loudoun County (five). Bedford County, between Roanoke and Lynchburg, generated the most complaints (56), followed by Price Edward County (21) and Essex County (16). Bedford County has thousands of acres of sludge-applied farmland, according to Nancy Raine, a resident who testified before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The county?s population has boomed in recent years, and Raine expressed concern about future consequences of biosolids applications. ?Do we know what will happen when farms are subdivided in this fast-growing county and people build homes on top of the storage pit or let their children play in front yards that have been used for years as the dumping ground for what is defined in the Federal Clean Water Act as a pollutant?? she asked. Of the 320 complaints, 145 involved odors; 55 involved possible illness or health concerns; 53 were about truck traffic; 52 were about ground water concerns; and 44 were about runoff. (A complaint could involve more than one problem.) Groundwater contamination is a big concern because many residents near sludge-applied farms rely on wells for water. Farmland as ?Waste Disposal Sites? Against the wishes of Carwile and her neighbors, biosolids were applied at a nearby farm by Nutri-Blend, a Richmond-based company, in January 2008. Carwile said that she and her neighbors contacted the company with their concerns before the biosolids were applied. ?The primary response was one of intimidation and demeaning answers to our questions,? Carwile said. ?We were all put off and our questions and concerns were re-routed to one agency after another until the sludge was applied, and by then it was too late.? Since the application, Carwile says her family and neighbors have seen their quality of life and health decline. Carwile said she suffers from upper-respiratory and stomach problems. She said her mother has suffered from a series of health problems including congestive heart failure. Carwile said that they had none of these ailments before the sludge was applied. Carwile said her neighbors have had problems, too. ?We had a 48-year-old female die of a heart attack with no prior history of heart problems, leaving behind a husband and 12-year-old son,? Carwile wrote in a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. ?They lived across the street from these applications.? Carwile also complained about strong odors and expressed concerns about the safety of family pets and wildlife in the areas. And she worries about the quality of crops grown using biosolids as fertilizer. ?The farmers are allowing their land to be used as waste disposal sites,? Carwile said. ?No Documented Adverse Health Effects? Nutri-Blend was the biosolids application contractor in 57 of the 320 complaints filed with the state since 2004. Synagro Technologies Inc. was the contractor in 186 of the incidents. A representative from Nutri-Blend could not be reached for comment. However, the company belongs to the Virginia Biosolids Council, an industry group that supports the use of biosolids as fertilizer. ?Compared to other risks in our society, the health or safety risks from biosolids are so small as to be almost non-existent,? the council?s Web site says. ?Despite the claims of some opponents, there are no scientifically documented cases of adverse health effects caused by biosolids.? The Virginia General Assembly?s expert panel on biosolids released its findings in January. The panel stopped short of declaring sludge safe; instead, it said there was a lack of evidence that sludge was harmful. Carwile and other citizens say the panel had a pro-industry bias. They vow to keep fighting against the application of sewage sludge as fertilizer. ?Our complaints take a back seat to hired lobbyists and paid informants. Clearly money talks,? Carwile said. ?This issue is not just confined to Virginia. There are pending lawsuits in other states and many citizens banding together to get our legislators to take action to stop these applications.? --------------------------------------- Biosolids complaints in Virginia by year 2004 ? 67 2005 ? 54 2006 ? 53 2007 ? 61 2008 ? 85 Sources: Virginia Department of Health for 2004-07; Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for 2008. For more information, see the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality?s Sewage Sludge and Biosolids page. --------------------------------------- From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 15 22:04:10 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 22:04:10 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Maine - residents ill near sludge site get water tested Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Too often government waste policy staff think that municipal and industrial wastewater sludges (like the paper sludge and sewage sludge in this situation) can be used to remediate gravel pits and mine tailings. But people are drinking the groundwater which is vulnerable to contamination from these huge sludge projects. The sludging at high application rates is likely to contaminate the groundwater at these sites. Those residents drinking water wells need to be tested for many more variables than just metals. They should be tested for all elements of the drinking water standard. THe leachate and groundwater under the sludge site should also be tested. Those elements are listed on this EPA website; http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#listmcl ........................................................................ State, private firm to test gravel pit water East Sangerville residents raise health concerns By Diana Bowley BDN Staff BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTOS BY KATE COLLINS Richard Behr, certified hydrogeologist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, walks past the gated entrance to Barrett Pit, a gravel pit on Douty Hill Road in East Sangerville, on Thursday. The DEP was taking groundwater samples from wells in the unlined pit to test for contaminants that possibly could have leached into groundwater and the wells of neighboring properties. SANGERVILLE, Maine ? The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to send groundwater samples taken from the Barrett gravel pit Thursday to an independent laboratory for testing. The decision was made Wednesday in response to requests from Rep. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville, and Sangerville Town Manager Joseph Clark on behalf of East Sangerville residents who fear that materials used to revegetate portions of the gravel pit years ago may have caused their health problems. ?We?re going to sample the monitoring wells out there and we?ll be sending the samples to two separate labs for the metals,? Mark Hyland, director of the DEP?s Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management, said Thursday. The samples, which were taken by DEP staff Thursday morning, will be tested at the Public Health Laboratory in Augusta and at Resource Laboratory Inc., a private company in Portsmouth, N.H., he said. More than five people who live within about a mile of the gravel pit and two former residents said they have experienced memory and cognitive problems, as well as muscle and sleep disorders, which started around 2006-07, about the time the groundwater monitoring ceased at the gravel pit. One couple?s well has since tested high for lead content, and a family member?s urine tested high for mercury and lead. Another resident, who hasn?t had his well tested, also had high levels of lead in his urine. Other residents say they plan to have their urine and well water checked for heavy metals. To fill and revegetate portions of the gravel pit, the DEP approved the use of paper mill sludge and ash in 1996 and an experimental combination of sewage sludge, commercial fertilizer and bioash in 1999. Although the gravel pit is located on a sand and gravel aquifer, no liner was required. DEP officials said the project initially contaminated groundwater with heavy metals released through chemical reaction. The contamination subsided, so groundwater monitoring ceased in 2006, the officials said. They also say it is extremely unlikely there is any relationship between the gravel pit revegetation and the well water in East Sangerville. Because the DEP approved the original gravel pit applications without comment from town officials, residents were concerned about the DEP?s doing the most recent testing. They asked that an independent firm also test the groundwater samples. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 16 11:57:44 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 11:57:44 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Ombudsman: Oshawa holds illegal closed meetings with Ontario Disposal waste hauler Message-ID: Ombudsman finds closed Oshawa meeting illegally involved lobbying, not just ?education? Ontario Ombudsman Andr? Marin has found a city of Oshawa committee met inappropriately behind closed doors with a private business in a ?lobbying? session that was supposed to be for ?education and training? purposes only. ?This is the very type of conduct that municipalities should scrupulously avoid occurring in a closed committee meeting,? he says in his report, The ABCs of Education and Training. Mr. Marin found the May 2008 meeting contravened the Municipal Act, and made four recommendations to improve the city?s practices. The city co-operated with the investigation but the Mayor responded that he disagreed with Mr. Marin?s findings. Thereafter, Mr. Marin learned that city officials had failed to comply with his confidential document handling instructions and were refusing to return his preliminary report. In a subsequent investigation involving Oshawa?s refusal to return the property of his office, the Ombudsman found the city?s actions contrary to law. The report of that investigation, Pirating Our Property, was released April 27. Related Materials SORT Report: ?Pirating Our Property? (1.4MB) http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/media/44240/oshawa2-en.pdf ..................................................... http://www.thestar.com/article/625380 Dispute heats up between Oshawa, ombudsman Apr 28, 2009 Vanessa Lu URBAN AFFAIRS REPORTER Toronto Star Ontario Ombudsman Andr? Marin has accused the City of Oshawa of blatantly disregarding the law and failing to co-operate with his office in an investigation about a closed-door meeting. "We found they abused their authority to conduct meetings privately. Then, they stymied our investigation process," said Marin, who yesterday blasted the city for refusing to return a preliminary report that belongs to the ombudsman's office. "What's next? Next time we do an investigation, will they hide witnesses, not just documents?" Under the Municipal Act, city governments are required to hold meetings in public, except in specific circumstances, such as dealing with litigation, sale or purchase of property, or a personnel matter. An update of the Municipal Act in 2006 provided for holding closed meetings when the sole purpose was education or training. Marin's office was called in after a complaint was filed over a May 22, 2008, meeting of the development services committee that was closed ? with "education purposes" being the reason cited. Noting that it involved officials of a recycling company that had been lobbying for zoning changes, Marin ruled it was illegal. "I can't think of a better example to have that meeting held publicly," Marin said. "You want open meetings to prevent hanky-panky, or at least the appearance of hanky-panky." Oshawa Mayor John Gray dismissed Marin's report. "He needs to take a vacation. Clearly, he's having a bad day," said Gray, who conceded "a procedural misstep" in holding the closed-door meeting, which he did not attend. "His investigation showed that. We don't have a problem with that," Gray said. "The response is so over-the-top, it's not funny." The city will not return Marin's preliminary report because Oshawa is required to keep and maintain all records under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Gray said. "We can't do that. We're not going to break the law." ....................................................... http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/media/44075/oshawa2releaseen.pdf Ontario Ombudsman censures Oshawa for ?pirating? report TORONTO (April 27, 2009) ? Ontario Ombudsman Andr? Marin today tabled a report signalling to municipalities that they must respect the law when they engage the services of his office. In his report, Pirating our Property, the Ombudsman found the city of Oshawa?s failure to co-operate with his office to be contrary to law. ?The Ombudsman of Ontario is an independent officer of the provincial legislature. The high credibility of the office comes from its ability to conduct thorough, impartial and independent investigations,? Mr. Marin said. Since January 2008, the Ombudsman has been the default watchdog and enforcer for open meetings in Ontario municipalities. Citizens can complain to him if a municipal council or committee meets in secret or closes its doors in contravention of the Municipal Act. The Ombudsman recently investigated a complaint that an Oshawa council committee improperly met behind closed doors last May in an ?education and training? session with representatives of a recycling company that had been the subject of odour complaints. The private discussions involved the firm?s compost facility and potential future development. The Ombudsman concluded the meeting went beyond what is permitted in a closed ?education and training? session and was therefore illegal. He issued a final report to the city in March. At that point, he learned Oshawa had disregarded his confidential document handling instructions, breaking its own promises and the law. The Mayor and city solicitor refused to return copies of the Ombudsman?s confidential preliminary report. Instead, Mr. Marin said, they sought to play a game of legal ?chicken,? daring his office to engage in pointless and expensive litigation. ?For more than 30 years, the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario has been accorded cooperation and compliance by government authorities. Displeased with the report we issued in response to a closed meeting complaint, the City of Oshawa has broken that trend,? Mr. Marin said. Rather than take the litigation bait, he said he chose to ?expose this to the sanitizing light of day? through investigation and public reporting. The Ombudsman is obligated by law to share his findings with the organization he has investigated before publishing a final report. Mr. Marin stressed that keeping preliminary reports confidential is fundamental to the ombudsman tradition of protecting the identities of complainants. ?It would be impossible for us to provide the value that we do for Ontarians if government authorities were to greet us with the lawyer?s games and resistance we met in this case,? he said. ?We cannot permit that to happen.? Under the Municipal Act, municipalities are free to opt out of the oversight of the Ombudsman and hire their own investigators for closed meeting complaints. ?It appears that Oshawa doesn?t want a watchdog but a lapdog,? Mr. Marin said. ?If that?s the case, I would invite the city to opt out of the current arrangement. Municipalities cannot ask for the credibility and the independent stamp of our office, and then try to pull the strings. They can?t have it both ways.? He added that the Ombudsman?s office intends to continue operating, as it has since 1975, according to law and practice as an independent and impartial body. The Ombudsman?s full report is available online at www.ombudsman.on.ca . The report of his earlier investigation into Oshawa?s closed meeting of May 2008 must be made public by the city, which the city has said it expects to do tonight. Thereafter, it will also be available through the Ombudsman?s office and website. BACKGROUND NOTES: ? Since 1975, the Ombudsman?s office has investigated and resolved public complaints and systemic problems throughout the provincial government, through recommendation and moral suasion. Provincial agencies are obligated by law to co-operate with Ombudsman investigations. ? At present, the Ombudsman is the investigator for closed meeting complaints in more than 190 of Ontario?s 445 municipalities, including Oshawa. The Ombudsman?s services are free of charge to complainants and municipalities. ? To date, the Ombudsman?s Open Meeting Law Enforcement Team (OMLET) has conducted six formal investigations of closed meeting complaints and issued five reports (not including Oshawa). These are all available under ?Municipal Matters ? Investigative Reports? at www.ombudsman.on.ca . ? The Ombudsman?s guide to the province?s closed meeting complaint system, The Sunshine Law Handbook, is available under ?Publications? at www.ombudsman.on.ca . The Ombudsman will be available to speak to the media on this issue at 3 p.m. today only at his office, 483 Bay Street, Bell Trinity Square, 10th Floor, South Tower. For more information or to confirm attendance at the media availability, please contact: Linda Williamson Director of Communications Tel: 416-586-3426 lwilliamson at ombudsman.on.ca Patricia Tomasi Communications Officer Tel: 416-586-3402 ptomasi at ombudsman.on.ca Elena Yunusov Communications Officer Tel: 416-586-3521 eyunusov at ombudsman.on.ca -30- From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 17 11:22:12 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 11:22:12 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> CRAPSHOOT Sludge Documentary - Now free on the web Message-ID: The National Film Board of Canada has an award winning 52 minute documentary on sewage and sludge: CRAPSHOOT: The gamble with our wastes The entire film is now available for viewing free on the internet on the NFB website: http://www.nfb.ca/film/crapshoot_the_gamble_with_our_wastes/ A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water - combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food - where does it all go? And what does it do to us? Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 17 21:51:01 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 21:51:01 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Georgia -Public Hearing Held for New Sludge Biomass Power Plant Message-ID: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3233527 Public Hearing Held for New Power Plant Friday, May 15, 2009 May 15--VALDOSTA "" On Thursday, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority held a public hearing on the proposed Wiregrass Power, LLC Biomass Electric Generating Plant at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center. The hearing educated the public on the more than $100 million project and provided a venue for questions. Allan Ricketts, project manager for the industrial authority, lead the discussion on the project that could be ready for use by June of 2012. Members of Wiregrass Power, LLC were also on hand to answer questions. When built, the plant would produce 40 megawatts of renewable energy through biomass taken from a variety of local sources. The energy would be available for purchase by Georgia utilities to provide electrical service to commercial and residential customers, Ricketts said. The facility is set to be located off of Inner Perimeter Road and adjacent to Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, a potential source for biosolids. The facility would be located on 22 acres, but only physically use eight, Ricketts said. The remaining acreage would act as a buffer to the surrounding properties. Ricketts said the company will generate biomass from the forest/wood industry through by-products, residue from forest/wood industry, inert landfill material and biosolids from waste water treatment plants. In addition to using biodegradable products to produce electricity, the plant can also use reclaimed water from the treatment plant to be used in the cooling cycle process, Ricketts said. In a 12-hour work day, Wiregrass Power, LLC estimates that 50 trucks will cycle through the facility delivering biosolids. A staging area will be built on-site to keep the trucks from backing up on the road, Ricketts said. The project has been in development for 18 months so far, Ricketts said, and still has to go through several phases before initial construction even begins. Darrell Brantley from Lowndes County felt that the project would be a great benefit to the community. His son-in-law is in the wood business and both came out to see if his business would have a chance at supplying the plant, Brantley said. "I think it's great. I think we should go forward with it," he said. Another audience member asked Ricketts why the particular site on Inner Perimeter was chosen. The proximity to reclaimed water, the access to significant transportation arteries and main power grid lines were the factors in choosing the location, Ricketts said. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 18 10:51:51 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 10:51:51 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Florida - Septic Hauler wants to dump 8 truckloads septage per day Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: This is not a little operation. It is Florida's largest septage and biosolids regional center. The company takes Class B sewage sludge and limes it and spreads it. Some of the limed sewage sludge is dried in a process using ICI woodwaste as fuel. The dried sewage sludge is soon to be marketed as 'Zellorganite' (with a wink to Milorganite). They are also pick up domestic septic pump out, and restaurant grease trap waste, and food processing waste like whey, at lime it and land apply. The permit meeting below is about a new pasture to land apply the effluent from their septic materials. ................................................... http://www.dailycommercial.com/051809sludge May 18 2009 Greener pastures? Septic company owners say sludge is good; some residents say it's bull MILLARD K. IVES Staff Writer CENTER HILL -- Sumter County zoning board members are expected to decide today whether whether to allow cattle owners to dump eight truckloads a day of septage residuals onto their property. Shelley's Septic Tanks, of Zellwood, is applying for a special use permit that would allow the company's owners to pour the treated liquid matter -- water byproduct -- on about 650 acres of their property on D & B and Viro ranches, just outside of Center Hill on County Road 48 inside the Sumter County line. The debate: agricultural enhancement versus negative environmental impact. There are about 40 to 50 homes within a half mile of the property with plenty of surrounding pastures filled with cattle, horses, chickens and other farm animals. There are about seven homes adjacent to the property. Shelley contends the treatment would provide for greener pastures. However, some area residents are complaining about the possible odor, disturbance from trucks and damage to wetland. At least one family has hired an attorney to represent them. Attorney James E. Wade, of Bushnell, said the area lacks proper drainage and setbacks to accommodate the up to 48,000 gallons a day, six days a week of septage residuals that the permit would allow trucks to bring in. "That's 48,000 gallons a day to an area that's not ready for it," he said. "You do the math." Past meetings on the issue have been filled with about 50 area residents, some who oppose the request and some who are in favor of it. An attorney for the septic tank company contends his clients only want to fertilize and treat their private land on which 250 head of cattle roam. Attorney Al Ford, of Longwood, said the septage is highly filtered, disinfected and air-rated. "This will allow residents to look out and see greener pastures," Ford said. Ford added that his client's request for a special use permit is not to use the area as a landfill or for disposal. The company also cites studies that show its use of the property wouldn't hinder nearby wetlands. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has approved their request. Today's 6:30 p.m. meeting at 910 N. Main St. in Bushnell is at least the second time the meeting has been pushed back. The first time, the company was given more time to put together documents showing it wouldn't damage area wetlands. The meeting was pushed back a second time to give residents more time to examine the documents. The board is expected to make a decision on the request tonight. Tonight's Meeting Who: Zoning and Adjustment Board meeting Topic: Special use permit request by Shelley's Septic Tanks Inc. When: Tonight, 6:30 p.m. Where: 910 N. Main St., Bushnell ............................................................. Site Name: Shelley's Septic Tanks RMF FDEP Office: CENTRAL DISTRICT Florida County: Orange Permit Type: Water - Domestic Wastewater Type I Residuals/Septage Management Facility Permit Application Number: FLA016177-032 Applicant Name: Applicant Company: Shelley's Septic Tanks Inc Application Received: OCT-03-2008 From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 18 11:08:49 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 11:08:49 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> N-Viro - Focuses on sludge/lime as old-tech fuel Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: They take sewage sludge - which has fuel value - and mix it 50 - 50 with coal fly ash - which has no fuel value...and then burn it. If they want to burn sludge as fuel...why mix it with inert non-BTU wastes? This is another way to deregulate fly ash. N-Viro picks up tipping fees for taking the coal ash - but the end results will lower the fuel value of the sludge. And look...wow...N-Viro made $20,000 this year in profits. Yup...$20K For the second time in their whole corporate history - they have reported an annual profit. ............................. Article published May 17, 2009 Toledo firm turns focus to old-tech fuel source N-Viro poised for growth N-Viro?s Aaron Bollinger scoops up processed sludge at the company?s facility near the Toledo wastewater treatment plant. ( THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON ) By LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE BLADE BUSINESS WRITER THE OFFICERS of Toledo-based N-Viro International Corp. acknowledge that the technology of their company, one that has invested in alternative energy, isn?t new. It has been used for eons. ?This is not rocket science,? said Tim Kasmoch, N-Viro?s president and chief executive officer. In fact, it?s science of an entirely different matter: fecal matter. And now, after a total makeover shifting its focus from collecting licensing revenues from its patents to an operations company selling its human-sludge treatment services and products to customers at several levels, Mr. Kasmoch said the small, underperforming company is finally poised for growth. ?We?re evolving away from the old business into new business and creating a platform now that we can grow off of,? Mr. Kasmoch said. At the company?s plant in Volusia County, Florida, bio-solids mixed with a waste product of burning coal are poured onto a conveyor belt for processing into a fuel for generating electric power. ( N-VIRO INTERNATIONAL CORP. ) The fuel powering N-Viro?s growth is almost identical to that used centuries ago by settlers making their way across the great oceans of grasslands on their journey west. When there was no wood to burn, the pioneers gathered ?buffalo chips? ? flat, dry pieces of dung ? to fuel their campfires. Now, N-Viro is taking ?bio-solids? from municipal wastewater treatment plants, drying and neutralizing it chemically and physically by mixing it with a waste product left from burning coal, and creating what they call N-Viro Fuel, which can be burned ? along with coal ? in municipal power plants to make electricity. ?Every ton of this that we put [into a conventional boiler] would have released its carbon no matter what we did with it, and will displace a like amount of coal,? explained Robert Bohmer, N-Viro?s vice president of business development. ?Power producers receive carbon credits for that. It provides a carbon-positive solution.? The company received a certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January that its N-Viro Fuel product was a ?renewable, biomass alternative fuel? ? an important designation for communities worried that their local coal plants would begin burning human or animal waste sludge. Last week, the company, which has about three dozen employees, posted a profit of $20,000 on increased sales of $1.4 million for the first quarter of 2009. The company lost $1.2 million in 2008, down from a $1.5 million loss during 2007. Although it has had profitable quarters before, N-Viro hasn?t posted an annual profit since 2000 ? its only annual profit since its founding ? despite its annual revenues having grown 22 percent last year to top $5 million. N-Viro went public in 1993, but its stock continues to trade on the over-the-counter market. It closed Friday at $2.55. Last year, total return on its stock was the highest among locally based publicly traded companies because its stock price remained relatively stable as the others faltered. Mr. Kasmoch, named CEO three years ago, said the company?s transformation is taking time but will produce results. ?We?re not looking at how long can we survive not making money. We look at it as how quickly can we get this thing making money,? he said. ?We?ve showed good growth over the last two years, and I think we can just explode on our growth.? Begun in 1989 with little more than patents and a contract with the city of Toledo to process its sewage sludge, N-Viro has languished for years. Its founder, J. Patrick Nicholson, was ousted in 2003 and filed a federal suit against the company that was later dismissed. The $2 million contract with Toledo ? which makes up 39 percent of N-Viro?s annual revenues ? was last renewed in 2004 and is up for renewal this year. However, with the city?s current financial condition, it is likely that the $2 million contract will be reduced if it is renewed. Tom Kroma, the city?s public utilities director, said he and other officials will study ?whether the contract makes sense going forward.? Mr. Kasmoch said N-Viro remains open to renegotiating the terms of the agreement that keeps its two-decade-old facility open near the BayView Wastewater Treatment Plant in Point Place. ?We would like to continue [the contract],? Mr. Kasmoch said. Not just money has plagued N-Viro?s Toledo operations. Neighbors have often complained of the strong ammonia smells emanating from its facility along the Maumee River. Under certain wind conditions, boat owners anchored at the Bay View Yacht Club in Point Place have been especially aggrieved. ?It depends on what they?re cooking and which way the wind blows,? explained Rich Wagoner, the yacht club?s 2008 past commodore. ?They?ve made some major upgrades to it, but we still get the smell, even with the upgrades.? Toledo no longer represents the major source of N-Viro?s income. Its regional processing hub in Daytona Beach, Fla., now holds that honor, chief financial officer Jim McHugh said. ?The income from Florida is about 55 percent,? of the company?s total for 2008 he said. ?The growth potential down there is bigger, too.? The Toledo facility serves a single municipal customer, but in Florida the company operates a central processing center within the 3,600-acre Volusia County Landfill in Daytona Beach. The isolated factory treats bio-solids trucked in from 18 municipalities. One customer, the city ofPort Orange, had been spreading its bio-solid wastes across farmland with less treatment. In signing up with N-Viro, the city more than doubled its costs, but did it because it was the right thing to do, said Roger Smith, public utilities director. Mr. Kasmoch said the company remains committed to becoming profitable, and staying in Toledo. ?This company is reaching sustainability and has diversified, and no one simple thing is going to kill it. ?This company has been in Toledo now for over two decades, and it?s management?s philosophy today that we would like to stay in Toledo.? http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090517/BUSINESS03/905169945/-1/BUSINESS04 From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Mon May 18 14:04:48 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 14:04:48 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Running Out of Water Message-ID: This is a long piece, so you may want to read it online: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a_b86mnWn9.w&refer=canada Las Vegas Running Out of Water Means Dimming Los Angeles Lights By John Lippert and Jim Efstathiou Jr. Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- On a cloudless December day in the Nevada desert, workers in white hard hats descend into a 30- foot-wide shaft next to Lake Mead. As they?ve been doing since June, they?ll blast and dig straight down into the limestone surrounding the reservoir that supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas?s water. In September, when they hit 600 feet, they?ll turn and burrow for 3 miles, laying a new pipe as they go. The crew is in a hurry. They?re battling the worst 10-year drought in recorded history along the Colorado River, which feeds the 110-mile-long reservoir. Since 1999, Lake Mead has dropped about 1 percent a year. By 2012, the lake?s surface could fall below the existing pipe that delivers 40 percent of the city?s water. As Las Vegas?s economy worsens, the workers are also racing against a recession that threatens the ability to sell $500 million in bonds so they can complete the job. Patricia Mulroy, manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is the general in this region?s war to stem a water emergency that?s playing out worldwide. It?s the biggest battle of her 31-year career. ?We?ve Tried Everything? ?We?ve tried everything,? says Mulroy, 56, who made no secret of her desire to become secretary of the U.S. Interior Department before President Barack Obama picked U.S. Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado in December. ?The way you look at water has to fundamentally change,? adds Mulroy, who, after 20 years of running the authority, said in January she?s ready to start thinking about looking for a new job, declining to say where. Across the planet, people like Mulroy are struggling to solve the next global crisis. >From 2500 B.C., when King Urlama of Lagash diverted water in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley in a border dispute with nearby Umma, to 1924, when Owens Valley, California, farmers blew up part of the aqueduct that served a parched Los Angeles, societies have bargained, fought and rearranged geographies to get the water they need. Mulroy started her push with conservation. She?s paying homeowners $1.50 a square foot (0.09 square meter) to replace lawns with gravel and asking golf courses to dig up turf. That helped cut Las Vegas?s water use by 19.4 percent in the seven years ended in 2008, even as the metropolitan area added 482,000 people, bringing the total to 2 million. It wasn?t enough. Paul Bunyan So she?s planning a $3.5 billion, 327-mile (525-kilometer) underground pipeline to tap aquifers beneath cattle-raising valleys northeast of the city. She?s even suggested refashioning the plumbing of the entire continent, Paul Bunyan style, by diverting floodwaters from the Mississippi River west toward the Rocky Mountains. If Mulroy?s ideas are extreme, one reason is that the planet?s most essential resource doesn?t work like other commodities. There?s no global marketplace for water. Deals for property, wells and water rights, such as the ones Mulroy must negotiate to build the pipeline, are done piecemeal. As the world grows needier, neither governments nor companies nor investors have figured out an effective and sustainable response. ?We have 19th-century ways of utilizing water and 21st- century needs,? says Brad Udall, director of Western Water Assessment at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Unyielding Pressure Water upheavals are intensifying because the population is growing fastest in places where fresh water is either scarce or polluted. Dry areas are becoming drier and wet areas wetter as the oceans and atmosphere warm. Economic roadblocks, such as the global credit crunch and its effects on Mulroy?s attempts to sell bonds, multiply during a recession. Yet local governments that control water face unyielding pressure from constituents to keep the price low, regardless of cost. Agricultural interests, commercial developers and the housing industry clash over dwindling supplies. Companies, burdened by slowing profits, will be forced to move from dry areas such as the American Southwest, Udall says. ?Water is going to be more important than oil in the next 20 years,? says Dipak Jain, dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who studies why corporations locate where they do. No Cheap Water Even before the now decade-long drought began punishing Las Vegas, people used more than 75 percent of the water in northern Africa and western Asia that they could get their hands on in 2000, according to the United Nations. In 2002, 8 percent of the world suffered chronic shortages. By 2050, 40 percent of the projected world population, or about 4 billion people, will lack adequate water as entire regions turn dry, the UN predicts. ?We can no longer assume that cheap water is available,? says Peter Gleick, editor of The World?s Water 2008-2009 (Island Press, 2009). ?We have to start living within our means.? Over the Sierra Mountains from Las Vegas, Shasta Lake, California?s biggest reservoir, is less than a third full because melting snow that fed it for six decades is dwindling. A winter as dry as the previous two may mean rationing for 18 million people in Southern California this year, says Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District. Across the Pacific Ocean, wildfires fueled by a 10-year drought and fanned by 60-mile-per-hour winds around Melbourne killed more than 200 people in February. Developing Giants In Asia, developing giants are battling pollution as their populations grow. China, home to 21 percent of the world?s people last year, has just 7 percent of the water. Nine in 10 Chinese-city groundwater systems are fouled by industrial toxins, pesticides and human waste, says Maude Barlow, the first senior adviser on water to the UN and author of ?Blue Covenant? (New Press, 2007). In India, with 1.2 billion people, three-quarters of the surface water is contaminated, that country?s government said in September. In the Mideast, where the Dead Sea is dropping 3 feet (1 meter) a year, Israel, Jordan and Syria are diverting water upstream from the Jordan River. That?s adding another source of discord to an already volatile region. ?Gambling, Gluttony and Girls? ?There?s a growing risk of conflict over water shared by nations, ethnic groups or economic interests,? Gleick says. Las Vegas, an adult-entertainment haven carved into the Mojave Desert, may not draw much sympathy as a poster child for water emergencies. For decades, new residents imported their cravings for lawns, sprinklers, pools and golf courses to a region that receives 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain a year, about 1/10 of what Chicago enjoys. Casinos and hotels with water slides and river rides sucked up limited groundwater. Until the real estate meltdown, Nevada was the fastest- growing U.S. market, with a 33 percent surge in new homes from 2000 to ?07. Now the city is getting a dose of reality, says Cecil Garland, a rancher in neighboring Utah who opposes Mulroy?s groundwater pipeline. ?Las Vegas is a place of gambling, gluttony and girls,? Garland, 83, says. He says there?s no extra water along the proposed route, which travels through valleys green with 3-foot-tall shrubs called greasewood. If pumping kills the greasewood, dust storms that plague his town of Callao would soar 5,000 feet into the sky, he says. ?Driest Areas? ?We live in one of the driest areas of the driest part of the U.S.,? Garland says. ?How in the world can anybody with reason or common sense think they can pump water in the amount they?re talking about and leave the integrity of the valley in place?? Mulroy says Nevada?s resorts use 3 percent of the state?s water compared with 90 percent going for farms and ranches. For the past two decades, Mulroy, a lifelong government employee whose business attire tends toward pantsuits with the collar of her blouses pointed up behind her neck, has wrestled with the competing truths that dog all water managers: There?s only so much to go around, somebody has already claimed most of it, and citizens and companies keep demanding more. ?People view water as a human right and expect it to be virtually free,? says Michael LoCascio at Boston-based Lux Research Inc., which analyzes water issues. ?Governments respond to that, and you end up with inefficiency.? Without price-setting markets, water that cost 33 cents a cubic meter for the first 15 cubic meters delivered to homes in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2007 was $3.01 in Atlanta and 57 cents in Las Vegas. That?s cheap compared with Copenhagen, where the same amount that month was $7.71 per cubic meter, Gleick says. Human Survival Robert Glennon, a University of Arizona law professor, says governments must provide enough water for human survival. Beyond that, only freely functioning markets can allot it to people who need it most, he says. Fast-growing cities should buy from farmers who use water on marginal land, says Glennon, author of ?Unquenchable? (Island Press, 2009). That would cut inefficiency caused by irrigating deserts, such as those around Las Vegas, to raise alfalfa or beef, he says. Worldwide, about 60 percent of fresh water goes to irrigate crops through flooding, losing 70 percent of the moisture to evaporation, Lux Research says. Rudimentary Markets The rudiments of water markets are cropping up across the American West. In 2005, after 19 years of negotiations, Los Angeles?s Metropolitan Water District signed a 35-year ?dry year option? with the Palo Verde Irrigation District south of Las Vegas in California. Los Angeles pays 7,000 farmers to leave land fallow during droughts and ship their water to city residents. The city gives a one-time payment of $3,170 an acre (0.4 hectare) to farmers who sign up and then $630 per year for every acre not farmed. Companies and investors that see moneymaking opportunities in strategies to quench the world?s thirst may draw lessons from corporations that have tried. In October, General Electric Co. named the third head of its water unit in three years. GE had paid $3.8 billion to buy several treatment and filtration companies, including Watertown, Massachusetts-based Ionics Inc., which makes reverse-osmosis membranes for purifying salt water. Big Deals Last year, GE opened a $250 million desalination plant, Africa?s largest, with state-owned Algerian Energy Co. GE had hoped to profit from its newly acquired water technologies with the backing of its General Electric Capital Corp. financing arm, says Jeffrey Fulgham, chief marketing officer for the Trevose, Pennsylvania-based unit. Instead, GE wound up footing a lot of the building work for the plant, he says. ?At the end of these big hardware deals, there isn?t much profit,? says Fulgham, who adds that GE now focuses on water technology and avoids construction. Pure Cycle Corp., which buys and transports water for housing developments near Denver, seemed to have scored a windfall. Starting in 1976, it paid $110 million for water rights valued at $4 billion last year, Chief Executive Officer Mark Harding says. Yet shares in the Thornton, Colorado, company tumbled by 47 percent during the six months ended on Feb. 25. to trade at $3.25 apiece. The real estate slowdown convinced investors that profits from water rights may be years away, Harding says. Just financing water for municipal use is getting harder in the global recession. $8.3 Billion The southern Nevada authority is about halfway through a 30-year, $8.3 billion construction campaign. Last year, 57 percent of the money for it came from a $6,310 fee to hook up new homes. The Las Vegas real estate slump is so severe that total hookup collections dropped to $61.5 million last year from $188.4 million in 2006. Mulroy says the authority actually lost money on hookups in January because of refunds to developers who abandoned construction projects. As a result, reserves in the construction fund dropped 6 percent in the first six weeks of 2009, to $480 million. Without those reserves, Mulroy says, she couldn?t assure investors the authority would be able to repay the $500 million in bonds she plans to start selling by early fall to complete the Lake Mead project. The authority had $3.9 billion in liabilities on June 30. ?Rub Two Sticks Together? The authority also gets money from water deliveries, property taxes and fees from federal land sales. If she has to protect the reserves, Mulroy says, she?ll raise water rates, which total about $21 a month for a single-family home. She?s asked fellow Nevadan Harry Reid, the U.S. Senate majority leader, for a federal guarantee on the bonds. Reid is exploring how to help big municipal water systems, including Mulroy?s, get easier access to credit, spokesman Jon Summers says. In February, Mulroy presented such a dire description of the authority?s finances to the Nevada legislature that Jerry Claborn, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, told her, ?You?ll have to do like you did years ago: rub two sticks together.? Mulroy said afterward she wanted to quash any notion that cash-strapped legislators could appropriate her reserves for some other purpose. To Richard Bunker, who hired her as an administrative assistant when he managed Clark County, Nevada, in 1978, Mulroy?s hardball tactics are a delight. ?She walks into a room with guys who?ve been on the river 50 and 60 years and they just cringe,? he says with a smile. ?Pay Me Enough? One thing Mulroy has ruled out, even in the economic meltdown, is using water as an excuse to limit Las Vegas?s growth. ?During the next 50 years, this country?s population is expected to explode by another 140 million,? she says, citing U.S. Census projections. ?I always ask, ?Where do you want the people to go??? Mulroy also opposes the idea of privatizing water, or giving investors power to set prices. ?You?d be telling people, ?Pay me enough or I withhold it,?? she says, her voice rising, in the cafeteria of Clark County?s terra cotta-colored municipal headquarters. ?It?s like you?re telling me I can live.? Mulroy?s unflagging commitment to keeping Las Vegas green and growing gets the blessing of casino owner Stephen Wynn. ?Pat is the best public servant I?ve met in my 40 years on the Strip,? says Wynn, who credits her with teaching him to save money by using treated groundwater for the lagoons surrounding the artificial volcano at the Mirage hotel, now owned by MGM Mirage. Lake Mead Finding the water for casinos is one reason crews are working around the clock at Lake Mead. In 2002 alone, lack of rainfall lowered the deep-blue waters by 24.6 feet, leaving white bathtub-ring-like marks on the brown cliffs and stranding docks half a mile from shore. Today, the lake is 1,112 feet above sea level. Should it fall to 1,075 feet, the federal government would cut the water to seven states that depend on the Colorado River, according to an agreement they all signed in 2007. If that happens, the states would likely renegotiate a 1922 pact that divided up the river?s water rights in the first place, Mulroy says. Mexico?s allocation under a 1944 treaty could also change. If the drought persists and more water is diverted from the Colorado, the lake could drop to 1,050 feet. That would prevent water from flowing into the intake pipe and cut 40 percent of Las Vegas?s supply -- the disaster Mulroy is trying to head off. Hoover Dam, completed in 1935 to regulate the river and form Lake Mead, wouldn?t be able to produce electricity for the 750,000 people it supplies in Los Angeles. No More Water At 1,000 feet, the remaining intakes and the rest of the Lake Mead water would go. Because of climate change and population growth, chances of this are as great as 50 percent by 2026, the University of Colorado?s Udall says. When Mulroy, a daughter of a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force, arrived in Las Vegas in 1974, the city had yet to be consumed by a water quest. Until the 1940s, parts of downtown had freely flowing springs. Mulroy, a native of Germany, studied German literature; got her master?s degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and went to work for Bunker at Clark County. A Mormon bishop, he later ran the state?s Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Resort Association. Shoeboxes Bunker supported her promotion to administrator for the county justice court, which was storing records in shoeboxes when she took over. In 1989, he backed her as general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, which the state legislature had formed four decades earlier. Mulroy helped create the seven- community Southern Nevada Water Authority two years later. ?Absent her being here, I don?t know where we?d be,? Bunker says. Around the time Mulroy became water czar, Wynn unleashed the era of Wall Street-financed megaresorts with his 30-story Mirage. He tinted the hotel?s windows with real gold. Mulroy raced to boost water deliveries throughout the city by as much as 20 percent a year. With Bunker?s help, she started planning the pipeline to tap melting snow under Wheeler Peak, Nevada?s second-highest mountain. The pipeline?s planned path runs northeast out of Las Vegas, enters Lincoln County and passes through the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, where, in December, gold leaves of cottonwoods shimmer and migratory birds swoop onto lakes fed by artesian springs. Farther north, hilltops are dotted with abandoned mining towns and bands of wild horses. ?Already Spoken For? As Mulroy marched north to secure land and permits, she ran headfirst into what Gleick says is a fundamental truth about water across the U.S. and other parts of the world. ?Nearly every drop is already spoken for, often more than once,? he says. Determined to get what she required, Mulroy went into horse-trading mode. ?You need a large amount of money and some very powerful people to make water projects happen,? says Greg James, a California water rights attorney and a consultant for pipeline opponents. She struck a deal with Harvey Whittemore, then Nevada?s top gambling lobbyist. Members of Whittemore?s law firm include Rory Reid, Harry Reid?s son. The younger Reid later served as the water authority?s vice chairman, from 2003 to ?08. 120,000 New Homes Whittemore, 56, is also a developer who?s planning a new suburb called Coyote Springs, 55 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip. Even with the real estate crash, Coyote Springs will have 120,000 homes and a dozen golf courses when it?s finished in four or five decades, he says. Whittemore?s land included one of the most productive wells ever drilled in southern Nevada. He sold 9,000 acre-feet of groundwater that he wasn?t using to Mulroy for $30.1 million. (One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or 1,240 kiloliters, enough for two average U.S. homes for a year.) That led to what Mulroy describes as a partnership in which Whittemore will help pay for the pipeline and use it to ship water to Coyote Springs. In 2003, Mulroy bargained with reluctant officials in neighboring Lincoln County, persuading them to drop opposition to the project by ceding back to them some of the water rights that she held. In 2006, farther up the route, she learned how tough the water business can be. She paid $22 million for a ranch that had cost $4.5 million six years earlier. The seller, Carson City, Nevada-based Vidler Water Co., a unit of PICO Holdings Inc., based the price on similar purchases Whittemore had made, Vidler President Dorothy Timian-Palmer says. Fight Over Greasewood Last year, Mulroy got into a fight over greasewood with Tim Durbin, a hydrologist who?d once been a consultant for her. Durbin disputed Mulroy?s assessment that the pipeline would avoid major damage to the shrub. In his rebuttal, Durbin described a scene that still touches an open wound in the psyche of the American West. In 1913, William Mulholland built a 223-mile aqueduct from Owens Valley in California?s Sierras to Los Angeles, where he was water superintendent. The aqueduct drained a 40-foot-deep lake, exposing the valley floor and unleashing dust storms that plagued Los Angeles throughout the 20th century. The aqueduct also inspired the 1974 movie ?Chinatown.? In 1970, Los Angeles built a second aqueduct. ?A Model? Today, the valley?s 75-mile-long expanse looks like it did a millennium ago. The water diverted to Los Angeles makes economic development in the valley impossible. ?Because of groundwater pumping, vegetation was disappearing in the Owens Valley,? says Durbin, who was chief hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in California and Nevada before becoming a private consultant in 1984. ?It?s a model for what one would expect in eastern Nevada.? Because of such memories, Mulroy hasn?t won many friends among eastern Nevada?s old-timers. Rancher Dean Baker fears Mulroy?s pipeline would drain the water that?s let him survive in Snake Valley, in the shadow of Wheeler Peak, for more than half a century. Baker, 69, remembers when people staked uranium claims only to realize their Geiger counters were clicking because of residue from atomic tests outside Las Vegas. He recalls flying solo in a Piper J-3 Cub before he could drive. Most of all, Baker remembers water. He rose at dawn to deliver it to cattle 50 miles away. He culled his herd and watched greasewood wither during droughts. It took 20 years for him to afford a backhoe with a jackhammer that could break rocks that covered a spring on his ranch. Legacy of Dust ?Water is the limiting factor in everything we do,? Baker says. ?The legacy of this pipeline will be dust.? Baker says people who want to move to Las Vegas should look instead to Mississippi and Louisiana. ?People should go where there?s water,? he says. Mulroy says her job is to bring water to the people. Last year, she said she thought the proposed pipeline could begin transporting water in 2015. Now, because of the recession, she doesn?t know when she?ll have the money to build it. She says she?ll wait for the economy to recover to decide -- unless Lake Mead drops even more and forces her to act. Mulroy?s struggle to get water to a growing desert population wouldn?t have surprised John Wesley Powell, the first known explorer to pass through the entire Grand Canyon 130 miles east of Las Vegas. ?You are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over the water rights,? he told the International Irrigation Congress in Los Angeles in 1893. ?There is no sufficient water to supply the land.? ?Little Bubbles? Four generations later, Mulroy is a veteran of these age- old conflicts. She says the region?s water emergency is becoming more dangerous because of climate change and population growth. The crisis is too big to be solved one river or one continent at a time, she says. ?We?ve managed water in such small, incremental units,? she says. ?We won?t be able to survive in our little bubbles.? Even people who agree with Mulroy?s warning won?t have an easy time acting on it. As she has, they?ll discover the effort it will take to quench the world?s thirst and realize that the time and money to do so -- like water itself -- are running short. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Tue May 19 08:50:26 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 08:50:26 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> The Carlyle Group Exposed - 45 minute video documentary on line Message-ID: The Carlyle Group bought Synagro - in 2007. Here is a 45 minute documentary about the Carlyle Group.The first two minutes are in Dutch. The rest is in English."Synagro is wholly owned by the international Carlyle Group, one of the world?s largest private equity firms, with more than $82.7 billion under management in 21 countries, and close ties to the Bush administration and its wars." "An in-depth analysis of the Carlyle group, and the Military Indutrial Complex they help nurture. Includes interviews with actual founders of Carlyle group." http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9183508539586944118&hl=en orhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7094545816220336237 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Wed May 20 11:01:00 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 11:01:00 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Michigan study: Superbugs thriving in wastewater treatment plants Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: 72% of the bacteria tested in the Wastewater Treatment Plnt final effluent had multi-drug resistance. ............................. http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20090413001732data_trunc_sys.shtml 13 May 2009 Superbugs thriving in wastewater treatment plants by Kate Melville In the first study of its kind, University of Michigan researchers have established that wastewater treatment plants are providing a perfect environment for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs that eventually end up in neighboring streams and lakes. Chuanwu Xi and co-researchers, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, sampled water containing the bacteria Acinetobacter at five sites in and near Ann Arbor's wastewater treatment plant. They found the so-called superbugs - bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics - up to 100 yards downstream from the discharge point into the Huron River. But Xi is cautious about what risk, if any, the presence of superbugs in aquatic environments poses to humans. "We still need to understand the link between aquatic and human multiple drug resistant bacteria," said Xi. Xi found that while the total number of bacteria left in the final discharge effluent declined dramatically after treatment, the remaining bacteria was significantly more likely to resist multiple antibiotics than bacteria in water samples upstream. Some strains resisted as many as seven of eight antibiotics tested. The bacteria in samples taken 100 yards downstream also were more likely to resist multiple drugs than bacteria upstream. Multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria has emerged as one of the top public health issues worldwide in the last few decades as the overuse of antibiotics and other factors have caused bacteria to become resistant to common drugs. Xi's group chose to study Acinetobacter because it is a growing cause of hospital-acquired infections and because of its ability to acquire antibiotic resistance. Xi explained that the problem isn't that treatment plants don't do a good job of cleaning the water - it's that they simply aren't equipped to remove all antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals entering the treatment plants. The treatment process is fertile ground for the creation of superbugs because it encourages bacteria to grow and break-down organic matter. However, the good bacteria grow and replicate along with the bad. In the confined space, bacteria share resistant genetic materials, and remaining antibiotics and other stressors may select multi-drug resistant bacteria. The next step, said Xi, is to see how far downstream the superbugs survive and try to understand the link between aquatic and human superbugs. ............................................... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19321192 1: Sci Total Environ. 2009 Jun 1;407(12):3702-6. Epub 2009 Mar 24. Wastewater treatment contributes to selective increase of antibiotic resistance among Acinetobacter spp.Zhang Y, Marrs CF, Simon C, Xi C. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. The occurrence and spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria is a pressing public health problem. The emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is common in areas where antibiotics are heavily used, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria also increasingly occur in aquatic environments. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of the wastewater treatment process on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter spp. in the wastewater and its receiving water. During two different events (high-temperature, high-flow, 31 degrees C; and low-temperature, low-flow, 8 degrees C), 366 strains of Acinetobacter spp. were isolated from five different sites, three in a wastewater treatment plant (raw influent, second effluent, and final effluent) and two in the receiving body (upstream and downstream of the treated wastewater discharge point). The antibiotic susceptibility phenotypes were determined by the disc-diffusion method for 8 antibiotics, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (AMC), chloramphenicol (CHL), ciprofloxacin (CIP), colistin (CL), gentamicin (GM), rifampin (RA), sulfisoxazole (SU), and trimethoprim (TMP). The prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter isolates to AMC, CHL, RA, and multi-drug (three antibiotics or more) significantly increased (p From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Wed May 20 11:24:20 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 11:24:20 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Scientific American - Sewage Plants and Super Bacteria Message-ID: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sewage-plants-super-bacteria&print=true News - April 16, 2009 Sewage Plants May Be Creating "Super" Bacteria Some bacteria at sewage treatment plants are becoming resistant to antibiotics and winding up in the environment By Andrew McGlashen and Environmental Health News A wastewater treatment plant's job description is pretty straightforward: Remove contaminants from sewage so it can be returned to the environment without harming people or wildlife. But a new study suggests that the treatment process can have an unintended consequence of promoting the spread of extra-hardy bacteria. Some bugs are resistant to antibiotics, so they dodge the medical bullets that wipe out others. The more drugs that are used, the more robust they become. Since bacteria reproduce quickly ? one organism might turn into a billion overnight ? and they share DNA with others, antibiotic-resistant genes spread like Darwinian wildfire when conditions are right. And at sewage treatment plants, it seems, the conditions are right, said microbiologist Chuanwu Xi, whose University of Michigan lab conducted the study. "Wastewater treatment plants are most effective at treating sewage when they have conditions that allow beneficial bacteria to thrive and improve the quality of the water," said Karen Kidd, a University of New Brunswick ecotoxicologist familiar with the study. "However, this study indicates that these conditions can also favor the mutation of some and act as a source of antibiotic resistant bacteria to the environment." "To me," she added, "that's sobering." These "super" organisms in the treated sewage wind up in rivers and other waters, potentially infecting people with infections that are difficult to treat. To determine if sewage-treatment plants might be a source of resistant bugs, Chuanwu and fellow researchers collected several species of the common bacteria Acinetobacter from a plant in Ann Arbor, Mich. that dumps its effluent into the Huron River. They exposed the bacteria to various antibiotics and cocktails of drugs, and found a significant increase in the percentage of Acinetobacter that were resistant after each stage of treatment. And while the final treatment process killed all but a tiny fraction of the bugs before releasing the water to the environment, the proportion of resistant bacteria was much higher among those that made it back to the river than those collected upstream from the plant. The bacteria were as much as 10 times more resistant to some antibiotics after secondary treatment at the Michigan plant. Also, in the river downstream of the plant, they were up to 2.7 times more resistant than bacteria upstream, according to the study. Chuanwu said people and wildlife that swim in or drink from the Huron River downstream may be exposed to the more stalwart strains. However, the human health risk is not well understood. Acinetobacter were chosen for their "remarkable ability" to develop resistance to antimicrobial agents, according to the Michigan study, which was published online in March in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The bacterium can cause pneumonia along with serious infections in wounds and in the bloodstream, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most infections affect people in hospitals, where common use of antibiotics promotes growth of resistant strains. "We don't know whether other bacteria would respond to the treatment process in the same way the Acinetobacter did," Chuanwu said. "We have some unpublished data suggesting a similar trend of resistance increase among all bacterial populations." Past studies have examined the link between wastewater treatment and antibiotic resistance, but this is the first to look simultaneously at a plant and the water body that receives its effluent. At sewage treatment plants, operators intentionally create conditions that promote growth of microorganisms in wastewater because they break down organic matter. In oxygenated waters with plenty to eat, those beneficial bacteria thrive and reproduce quickly. But so do their more harmful cousins. And because treatment plants create far higher densities of bacteria than exist in the environment, "they could very likely increase gene transfer among microorganisms," Chuanwu said. Before the bacteria can build resistance, though, they have to be exposed to antibiotics. That's where the average citizen comes in. When people take antibiotics, a good deal of the drugs head to the treatment plant when toilets are flushed. The same is true when they dump unused medicine down drains. "Most antibiotics are pretty stable, so up to 90 percent of them end up in the wastewater," said Chuanwu. "In order to deal with this problem, we need to think about how to wisely reduce the use of antibiotics." The CDC lists antibiotic resistance among its top concerns, and warns that resistant strains can spread quickly through communities. Some bacteria, commonly called "superbugs," are so tough that no antibiotics exist that can cure infections. The poster-child superbug is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a bacterium that in 2005 killed nearly 19,000 people in the United States alone. But more recently, the Acinetobacter bacteria have drawn attention and earned a bad reputation. A January report from the Infectious Disease Society of America said that a particular strain, Acinetobacter baumannii, along with other microbes called Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae, could soon rival MRSA as a killer. It has also become notorious as a common infector and occasional killer of soldiers and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Thomas Steitz, a biochemist at Yale University who researches new kinds of antibiotics, said it is unlikely that drugs in most sewage could be strong enough to cause resistance, but the University of Michigan's medical school in Ann Arbor could contribute already-resistant bugs that can share the resistant genes with other bacteria at the plant. Resistant bacteria could also come from farm runoff, he said, since livestock at many large feedlots are regularly fed low doses of antibiotics. Treatment plants do a fine job of removing most pollutants, said Jeff Cowles, an environmental engineer who used to oversee treatment plants for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, but they're ill-equipped to get rid of so-called "microconstituents" like pharmaceuticals, pesticides and nanoparticles. "And we just don't know what's happening to them once they enter the system," Cowles said. "It's reminiscent of the 1950s when DDT was going into the environment. We just assumed that it was going away, but it wasn't going away." Cowles called the study's findings "very surprising" and said if they are accurate, "that's pretty significant," he said. "That particular facility puts out one of the cleanest effluents in the country. If they're really showing that, then that's a wakeup call." "Wastewater operators are concerned" about antibiotic resistance, Cowles said, "but it's a matter of needing research." It's also a matter of cost. Treatment plants use chlorine or ultraviolet light, or both, to kill microorganisms before discharging effluent to the environment, and although "in general, it's relatively safe," neither method kills all bacteria, Cowles said. For the right price, though, plant operators could wipe them out through reverse osmosis or the use of activated carbon. "Is it possible to sterilize it? Of course," he said. A project in Orange County, Calif., for example, uses reverse osmosis and other advanced technologies to render sewage discharge pure enough to recycle as drinking water. "It's a matter of money," said Cowles. "But it's very unlikely that the American public would tolerate the cost of doing that." It's also unclear whether the risk of letting a few bugs survive in effluent warrants the high cost of completely eradicating them, he added. "The environment provides the opportunity for infection no matter where you are, upstream or downstream," he said. Meanwhile, according to Steitz, there's an ongoing arms race between superbugs and the medical world. "Evolution trumps intelligent design," he said. "Even though you get really smart drugs, they'll eventually get around it." This article originally ran at Environmental Health News, a news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company. .................................... Comment from Dan Abshear: With medical institutional infections in particular, sometimes death is a good thing- for a vicious multi-cellular organism. There are a variety of different types of bacterial infections one can get from many different sources, yet some locations are more common than others. If bacteria are not beneficial for your health, as many bacteria are, they should die in order to restore your health. Bacteria are a simple life form, yet are incredibly productive and efficient. As with other life forms, they exist to reproduce, and does so about every hour. Bacteria mutate, evolve, and adapt according to the host in which they exist. To do this, it fully utilizes all available resources and energy to develop the protein that is essential for its survival in their host. Bacteria need exactly 7 genes to produce the essential ribosomes for their existence. Any more or less genes than 7, the bacteria is not maximizing its efficiency to survive and reproduce. Amazing. Strep infections are caused by what are called gram positive bacteria, and they are the most common bacteria that infect other humans. . Group A strep infections can cause diseases such as strep throat and pneumonia. Also, staph bacterial infections are gram positive as well that potentially infect humans, and do so often. Of all pathogenic, or disease-causing bacteria that exist, it is the MRSA, the methicillin resistant staff aureus bacteria, that are most concerning to health care providers in particular. This is because MRSA bacterial infections are the most difficult to cure when a patient suffers from their damage from being infected by these bacteria. Another difficult situation is when a patient is infected by VRE, Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci, which is another type of gram positive bacteria that exist. These MRSA and VRE bacteria are difficult to eradicate due to the fact that most antibiotics that are available to rid the patient of other bacterial infections, MRSA and VRE are resistant to the effectiveness of these antibiotics. MRSA and VRE infected patients are quite challenging for the health care provider who is attempting to cure patients infected with these particular bacterial infections. In many situations, pathogenic bacteria infect a patient already within a medical institution for another disease. When this occurs, it is called a nosocomial infection. Greater than 5 percent of nosocomial infections are determined to be MRSA infections, it has been reported. As a result, there are about 100,000 serious hospital infections, as well as about 20,000 deaths from MRSA infections annually. Since there are several types of pathogenic bacteria that exist, a diagnostic test called a culture and sensitivity is usually performed at a clinical laboratory to assure the correct antibiotic is selected for treatment, as the bacteria are identified with this diagnostic method. Typically, fluid from the area suspected of being infected is obtained from the patient suspected to have an infection and smeared on what is called a petrie dish. And then these dishes are incubated for 2 to 3 days. Gram positive bacteria stain during this process a dark violet or blue. Gram negative bacteria would be pink in color, and are capable of harm as well to a human being. When the culture is complete, technology that is available offers recommendations on the appropriate class or brand of antibiotic to treat the pathogenic bacteria present in another person- presuming the bacteria will not be resistant to the antibiotic recommended, as this happens on occasion. Usually, classes of antibiotics that are used to treat gram positive strep infections that are not VRE or MRSA bacteria are cephalosporins, macrolides, or general penicillins. If the microbe that is causing the infection is resistant to the antibiotic from such classes that are administered to the infected patient, other options should be considered for anti-microbial therapy. With two very powerful antibiotics in particular, which are methicillin and vancomycin, their frequent use in infected patients has resulted in VRE and MRSA bacteria that are now resistant to these antibiotics. When a patient is infected with VRE or MRSA bacteria, other selections for antimicrobial therapy that provide more efficacy should be selected for a patient infected with these types of infections. Such brands and types of antibiotics for MRSA and VRE bacteria include Zyvox, which has both IV and oral dosage options, and an antibiotic called Cubicin. However these antibiotics for antibiotic resistant bacteria are given usually due to infections that have progressed to a more serious nature within a patient infected in such a way, so a cure is not immediate when these antibiotics are selected for such patients. Progressive medical conditions with such infected patients include sepsis, or blood infection, osteomyelitis, or bone infection, as well as pneumonia, which is a serious lung infection. A hospital stay is normally required with such patients infected with MRSA and VRE infections that cause such diseases. This is because when the antibiotics that potentially cure the patient of these microbes are selected, they are usually given via IV administration, and are administered normally for several days, if not several weeks. There are numerous classes and types of antibiotics available, yet bacterial resistance to most of these antibiotics, with the exception of the two mentioned earlier, constantly remain a serious concern for the health care provider, and the MRSA and VRE infected patient. With MRSA at the top of the list of concerns for the health care providers, this infection continue to occur progressively, which amplifies the concerns of others. Medical institutions should possibly consider quarantine for those patients at their locations that have been determined to be infected with the MRSA and VRE bacteria more often in the future. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_spotlight_2006.html Dan Abshear From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 21 10:31:31 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 10:31:31 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Whistler BC: Sewage sludge sludge pile sending leachate into Crater Creek Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: THis fiasco was entirely predictable from the outset of this project.How can they consider spreading sewage sludge in the BC wilderness habitat?This exposes creatures great and small to the antibiotic resistant pathogens, the heavy metals, the endocrine disruptors and other toxins that are in sewage sludge. Now the leachate from the sludge is heading into the creek. ................................. http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_News&content=Biosolids+leaking+1620 News Pique Newsmagazine RMOWleaking into Crater Creek: documents By Jesse Ferreras May 18, 2009 The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) has been leaking metals and other materials into Crater Creek, according to documents obtained by Pique. Documents obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request include an e-mail sent on April 25, 2008 by Lindsay Rear, an environmental technician with Cascade Environmental Resource Group. Her message expresses concern that sediment, nutrients and metals are leaking into Crater Creek from a pile of biosolids and woodchips near the Whistler Athletes' Village. The creek is a tributary of the fish-bearing Cheakamus River. "Machines are mixing the wood chips with the bio-solids on a regular basis, affecting the runoff that drains into Crater Creek," she wrote. "This runoff is bypassing the RMOW leachate pump station and is entering Crater Creek untreated." An Aug. 12, 2008 e-mail from Environmental Stewardship Manager Heather Beresford indicated that runoff into the creek continued to be an issue. "The environmental monitoring report for June says that despite the work, the site is a constant source of elevated levels of sediment, nutrients and metals to Crater Creek and the water quality remains poor with high conductivity and turbidity," she wrote. The site she's referring to is a pile of biosolids and woodchips located next to the old landfill site, just a short distance from the athletes' village. Treated biosolids, including human waste from Whistler homes and condos have been trucked there since November 2007, in the interim between the landfill's closing and the opening of the composter. In a previous story related to the biosolids pile, Environmental Services Manager Brian Barnett said he was certain that leachate wasn't getting into the creek from the biosolids. Now, however, he's seen Beresford's e-mail but thinks the materials are coming from the old landfill site. "We know that landfill leachate is getting into Crater Creek, which is most likely, in my opinion, the source of the metal contents that were discovered there," he said. "About 95 per cent of the landfills in B.C. have no liner and of course they generate leachate due to that, so most of this landfill has no liner." An April 16 water sampling report prepared by the Surrey-based Bodycote Testing Group shows that inflow to a detention pond located next to the biosolids carried a phosphorous concentration of 0.023 milligrams per litre - above the 0.015 limit under B.C. guidelines. Outflow from the detention pond had a concentration of 0.016 milligrams per litre. Another report from Bodycote showed an aluminum concentration of 1.14 milligrams per litre in a "leachate upper pond." It also found an iron concentration of 3.57 milligrams per litre, each of them well above a "nominal detection." Results were based on a test sample from April 15, 2008, 10 days before Rear raised her concerns with the RMOW. Flows into the pond could be coming from either the biosolids or the old landfill site, which is located uphill from the pond. Barnett said it's likely that leachate is entering Crater Creek from the old landfill site and said the RMOW has spent approximately $5 million installing a collection system for runoff, but the e-mails make clear that some is escaping. He seemed confident, however, that any leachate coming from the biosolids isn't dangerous. "We've spent millions of dollars on a leachate collection system but the fact remains it's an unlined landfill," he said. "No question there's going to be some leachate from this landfill, just like every other landfill in the province." Barnett went on to explain that the treated biosolids will be taken down the road from their current site and put towards a "wildlife corridor" that will help grow vegetation for wildlife that live in the Cheakamus forest area. The corridor is slated for an area that's closer to the river than is the current biosolids pile. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Thu May 21 10:45:24 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 10:45:24 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Biosolids: Simulating pharmaceutical and personal care product transport Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: You may wish to obtain a copy of this study. THis is important work, showing how sludge with its load of pharmaceuticals can move swiftly into groundwater through macropores in the soil. TECHNICAL REPORTS: VADOSE ZONE PROCESSES AND CHEMICAL TRANSPORT TECHNICAL REPORTS: VADOSE ZONE PROCESSES AND CHEMICAL TRANSPORT Simulation of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product Transport to Tile Drains after Biosolids Application Mats Larsbo* Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences David R. Lapen and Edward Topp Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Chris Metcalfe Trent University Karim C. Abbaspour Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology Kathrin Fenner Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, ETH Zurich Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) carried in biosolids may reach surface waters or ground water when these materials are applied as fertilizer to agricultural land. ............................................. www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Simulating-pharmaceutical-and-personal-care-product-transport-8506-1/ Simulating pharmaceutical and personal care product transport MADISON, WI, MAY 18, 2009 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) carried in biosolids (i.e., treated sewage sludge) may reach surface waters or groundwater when these materials are applied as fertilizer to agricultural land. During the high flow conditions created by land application of liquid municipal biosolids (LMB) the residence time of solutes in soil macropores may be too short for sorption equilibration which increases the risk for leaching. Physically based solute transport simulation models are widely used in environmental risk assessment for pesticides. These models may also be applicable for PPCPs when their physical and chemical properties and soil dissipation characteristics are available. However, these models do not account for non-equilibrium sorption in soil macropores. The model MACRO is one of the models used in environmental risk assessments for pesticides and may have potential as an environmental risk assessment tool for PPCPs. A group of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and Trent University, Canada, evaluated the MACRO model and an updated version of MACRO which included non-equilibrium sorption in macropores using data from experiments on the transport of three PPCPs (atenolol, carbamazepine, and triclosan), the nicotine metabolite cotinine, and the strongly sorbing dye rhodamine WT applied in LMB. The study was financed by grants from the European Union (ERAPharm, project no. 511135) as well as Health Canada, the AAFC GAPs program, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nutrient Management Joint Research Program. Results showed that the MACRO model could not reproduce the measured rhodamine WT concentrations in drain discharge. The updated version result ed in better fits to measured data for both PPCP and rhodamine WT concentrations. However, it was not possible to simulate all compounds using the same set of hydraulic parameters, which indicates that the model does not fully account for all relevant processes. Mats Larsbo, one of the authors of the article, stated that "Our results show that non-equilibrium sorption in macropores has a large impact on simulated solute transport for reactive compounds contained in LMB. This process should be considered in solute transport models that are used for environmental risk assessments for such compounds".The identification of key model processes, such as non-equilibrium sorption in macropores, is an important step in the development of better tools for environmental risk assessment for PPCPs. However, further field studies and model evaluations are needed to establish under which conditions this process plays an important role. Results from the study were published in the May-June issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Simulating-pharmaceutical-and-personal-care-product-transport-8506-1/ see also: Zhang et al. Wastewater treatment contributes to selective increase of antibiotic resistance among Acinetobacter spp.. Science of The Total Environment, 2009; 407 (12): 3702 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.02.013 See also this study: is to appear in the National Library of Medicine publication PubMed, with an abstract available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19321192?dopt=Abstract From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 22 19:49:11 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 19:49:11 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Mother Jones: The Top 6 Ways to Convert Poop Into Electricity Message-ID: http://www.motherjones.com:80/blue-marble/2009/05/top-6-ways-convert-poop-electricity The Top 6 Ways to Convert Poop Into Electricity ? By Josh Harkinson | Fri May 22, 2009 More than half of the 15 trillion gallons of sewage Americans flush annually is processed into sludge that gets spread on farmland, lawns, and home vegetable gardens. In theory, recycling poop is the perfect solution to the one truly unavoidable byproduct of human civilization. But sludge-based as fertilizer can contain anything that goes down the drain?from Prozac flushed down toilets to motor oil hosed from factory floors. That's why an increasing number of cities have begun to explore an alternative way to dispose of sludge: advanced poop-to-power plants. By one estimate, a single American's daily sludge output can generate enough electricity to light a 60-watt bulb for more than nine hours. Here are the six most innovative ways that human waste is being converted to watts: Poop-Eating Bacteria Digesters similar to brewery casks house anaerobic bacteria that eat sludge and belch out methane. This technology is the oldest, cheapest, and most proven poop-to-power method. Even so, fewer than 10 percent of the nation's 6,000 public wastewater plants have the digesters; of those, just 20 percent burn the methane gas for energy (the rest simply flare it off). Flint, Michigan, and several other cities use the methane gas to fuel fleets of city buses. The problem with anaerobic digesters is that they only reduce sludge's volume by half and capture a portion of its embedded energy. Turd Cell Smashers Destroying the cell walls in sludge?by heating it under pressure, zapping it with ultrasonic waves, or pulsing it with electric fields?boosts its methane production by 50 percent or more in anaerobic digesters. On the downside, researchers have found that some of these processes can unleash nasty odors and even a "chemical attack" on sewage machinery. Geological Toilets Last summer, Los Angeles began injecting sludge into a mile-deep well, where pressure and heat are expected to release enough methane to power 1,000 homes. The well also dissolves and sequesters carbon dioxide that the sludge would normally release, removing the equivalent exhaust of about 1,000 cars per year. "This renewable energy project is absolutely electrifying," Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the LA Times. "It will save money and make money." Feces Ponds As a cheaper green option, some 50 waste plants in 20 countries have installed versions of UC Berkeley professor William J. Oswald's Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond Systems Technology--large open-air ponds that primarily rely on anaerobic digestion and photosynthesis to break down sludge and convert it into a fertilizer or animal feed of nitrogen-rich algae. The algae in turn can be used as a feedstock for biofuels. Rich Brown, an environmental scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, sees an obstacle in the ponds' huge footprint: "For rural areas it?s great," he says. "For San Francisco it wouldn?t work so well." Gassifiers Sludge gasification plants are popular in Europe and especially Germany. A low-oxygen reaction transforms the solids in sludge into a carbon-rich "char" similar to BBQ briquettes. Next, the char is gasified in the presence of air to produce a syngas that can be burned for energy. Poop Pyrotechnics Last year, Atlanta-based EnerTech built the world's first commercial sludge "pyrolysis" plant in Southern California. Its patented SlurryCarb process converts sludge from a third of Los Angeles and Orange Counties into char pellets that replace coal at a nearby cement kiln; its ash is mixed into the cement. One Small Poop for Man. . . With billions in stimulus funds slated for wastewater improvements, is the time right for poop power? Such efforts, which reduce landfilling and emissions, have earned praise from some anti-sludge groups. Caroline Snyder, the founder of Citizens for Sludge-Free Land, calls it a "win-win situation." The EPA says sludge power holds promise, but it's not ready to quit pushing sludge as a wonder fertilizer. This hasn?t deterred the sewage industry, which sees a chance to get into the renewable energy business and put a stop to the stream of health complaints and costly lawsuits. "After almost 40 years of working in biosolids," a sewage industry official wrote in a recent newsletter. "I never thought I?d say this: it is an exciting time for sludge!" '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' H/T to the State of Science Report: Energy and Resource Recovery from Sludge, \ published by the Global Water Research Coalition Executive Summary: http://www.werf.org/AM/CustomSource/Downloads/uGetExecutiveSummary.cfm?File=ES-OWSO3R07.pdf&ContentFileID=6450 ******************************************************* Helane Shields: Many of us who have been calling for an end to the land application of toxic/pathogenic sewage sludge "biosolids", support clean, non-polluting thermal and other technologies that convert sludge from a contaminated waste to a renewable resource. Europe is way ahead of the US in using biogas and other methods to generate heat, power, and electricity from wastewater sludge, thereby protecting farm land from degradation and reducing both greenhouse gases and their dependence on costly imported foreign oil and gas. . . . ......................... What to do with Sewage Sludges http://www.safewatergroup.org/Specials/What_to_do_with_sewage_sludges.htm -- From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 22 20:11:59 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 20:11:59 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> European Union - Renewable Energy from Biomass Message-ID: Greenpeace and Renewable Energy Industry Call for Energy Revolution\ 11 May 2009 Energy [R]evolution 2009 ? Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) have released the Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable Canada Energy Outlook, a new report detailing a revolutionary green energy scenario for Canada that could cut this country?s greenhouse gas emissions dramatically by 2020. The report was released at a launch event for newsmakers in Ottawa, featuring: Sven Teske, Greenpeace International's Director of Renewable Energy and co-author of the report; Christine Lins, Secretary-General of European Renewable Energy Council; and David Martin, Climate and Energy Coordinator for Greenpeace Canada and report co-author. Greenpeace prepared the report based on modeling by the German Aerospace Agency. EREC is the world?s largest industry association for renewable energy. COMPLETE 56 PAGE REPORT: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/canada/en/documents-and-links/publications/energy-revolution-report-2009.pdf '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' http://www.erec.org/renewableenergysources/bioenergy.html Renewable Energy Bioenergy Bioenergy Bioenergy are diversified systems to convert biomass resources into heat, power and transportation fuels. Biomass is the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agriculture (including vegetable and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste. Conventional crops for non-food use: starch crops (maize, wheat, corn, barley), oil crops (rape seed, sunflower) and sugar crops (sugar beet, sweet sorghum...) Dedicated crops: short rotation forestry (willow, poplar) and herbaceous (grasses) Forestry by-products: logging residues, thinnings, etc. Agricultural by-products: straw, animal manure, etc. Industrial by-products: residues from food, and wood-based industries Biomass Waste: demolition wood waste, sewage sludge and organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Bioenergy Three ways of using the biomass resources constitute the bioenergy sector: Biomass for heating purposes (bio-heating), Biomass for electricity production (bio-electricity), Biomass for transport fuels (transportation biofuels) All these processes enable to take profit of the CO2 mitigation potential of biomass. The CO2 released is equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by the biomass (photosynthesis) in the growing phase. Practically, the equivalent of 10 to 30% of the energy content of the raw biomass is used in cropping, transport, conversion and upgrading. This amount of energy can partially come from the biomass itself, which makes the overall CO2-balance nearly neutral. Therefore, biomass can substantially contribute to reach the targets of the Kyoto protocol and to reduce long-term greenhouse gas emissions. Key Advantages of Biomass Widespread availability in Europe and abroad Contribute to the security of energy supply Low fuel cost compared to fossil fuels Can be stored and used on demand Stable employment opportunities, especially in rural areas Good opportunities for technology exports Reduced CO2 and other emissions Source of many business opportunities Contribution to a balanced growth of agriculture Biomass Potential The potential for Bioenergy is very large and widely distributed throughout the world. Today, biomass is already the major contributor to the total world energy needs of all renewable energy technologies available, and reaches 12 % (50 EJ/y) of the total world need (406 EJ/y). The use is essentially based on agro-forestry residues and natural forest. Because bioenergy can be implemented at small, medium and large scale, it is applicable to a wide variety of resources and processing/utilisation schemes. There is a need for wider availability of modern and efficient technologies of bioenergy, and great efforts are being made to promote the contribution they can make towards environmentally, technically and economically sustainable use of resources. In the future, a large contribution to Bioenergy production may also derive from dedicated crops (Short Rotation Forestry plantation, herbaceous crops). Job Creation Bioenergy production creates new and stable jobs, mostly in rural areas. It contributes to a balanced growth of agriculture. High demand for biomass conversion and utilisation technologies can be expected in the future in both industrialised and developing countries. This means major export opportunities for European technologies, know-how and services, particularly for small and medium capacity plants. The table below shows that the implementation of the Biomass Action Plan would involve the creation of 182.000 additional jobs in the EU. BIOMASS ACTION PLAN of the European Commission for a coordinated approach to biomass policy The Biomass action plan sets out measures to increase the development of biomass energy from wood, wastes and agricultural crops by creating market-based incentives to its use and removing barriers to the development of the market. The Biomass Action Plan is a coordinated programme for community action, including measures to improve demand for biomass; improve supply; overcome technical barriers; and develop research. In this way Europe can cut its dependence on fossil fuels, cut greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate economic activity in rural areas. Cost effective measures in favour of biomass need to be developed at European level to: Draw maximum advantage from national & local innovation and Provide a clear way forward for major industries organised on a European scale Share burdens fairly. For more information contact: AEBIOM European Biomass Association www.aebiom.org eBIO European Bioethanol Fuel Association www.ebio.org EUBIA European Biomass Industry Association www.eubia.org EREC - European Renewable Energy Council Rue d'Arlon 63-67, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 23 08:06:54 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:06:54 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Nine companies submit plans for renewable energy projects in Central New York Message-ID: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1243069138219630.xml&coll=1 Nine companies submit plans for renewable energy projects in Central New York Nine companies want to create renewable energy ventures in Syracuse area. Saturday, May 23, 2009 By Mark Weiner Washington bureau Nine companies want to build renewable energy projects in Syracuse and Onondaga County that would be powered by wind, solar, biomass, fuel cells and even sewage sludge. The companies submitted their proposals to a joint city-county team that is looking into sources of cheap, alternative energy that could power government offices, schools, libraries and other municipal buildings. Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll - visiting Washington, D.C., this week for a climate leadership summit among mayors and other local officials - said he hoped the projects would qualify for partial support from federal stimulus money. Driscoll said the original idea was to revive plans for a 20-megawatt gasification plant similar to a project scrapped in 2007 by Siemens Building Technologies. The company wanted to build the plant in Syracuse and power it with locally grown willow shrubs. Siemens ended up backing out of that deal. After sending out requests for proposals in March, the city-county team received nine responses by the end of April, said Jean Smiley, Onondaga County's administrator for physical services. The proposals included a full range of renewable energy sources, including one that wants to use Onondaga County's sewage sludge to make unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, Smiley said. She said she could not disclose the names of the companies who filed proposals or where in the county they want to build the plants. Smiley said some of the proposals were specific for city properties, while others, such as the sewage sludge, would focus on county properties. A technical committee that includes engineers and finance specialists from Syracuse and Onondaga County has started reviewing the proposals, Smiley said. Members of the Syracuse Common Council and Onondaga County Legislature also will be part of the review process. "We're hoping to wrap it up by the end of June and make recommendations on what proposals to pursue," Smiley said. The joint request for proposals asked developers for projects that would supply energy from renewable resources - a priority for New York state and President Obama. Obama's renewable energy mandate is a cornerstone of his energy policy. The president wants 15 percent of the nation's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2021. Despite the deep recession, Smiley said the response to the city-county request was strong. "We were very pleased with the responses we received," Smiley said. "There was a lot of interest out there." Syracuse and Onondaga County taxpayers now pay about $60 million a year for the energy that powers municipal buildings, almost all of which comes from fossil fuels. Most of the proposals would not require an upfront taxpayer investment, but would rather be paid for by the county and city buying their energy directly from the new power source, the county said. ?2009 poststandard Copyright 2009 syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 23 08:12:28 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:12:28 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Sewage Sows Superbugs Message-ID: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/05/sewage-sows-superbugs ? Health Care, Must Reads Sewage Sows Superbugs ? By Julia Whitty | Wed May 13, 2009 ?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wastewater treatment plants create a hedonistic mating ground for antibiotic-resistant superbugs that are eventually discharged into streams and lakes. A new study sampled water near five sewage plants around Ann Arbor, Michigan, and found superbugs?bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics?up to 100 yards downstream from the discharge point in the Huron River. (Next: the researchers are going to look further than 100 yards away.) While the total number of Acinetobacter bacteria left in the discharge effluent declined dramatically after treatment, the remaining bacteria were significantly more resistant to multiple antibiotics than upstream bacteria. Ooops. Some strains resisted as many as seven of eight antibiotics tested. Twenty or 30 years ago, antibiotics would have killed most of these strains. But multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria have emerged as a serious global health issue thanks to the overuse and abuse of antibiotics. The researchers conclude the problem isn't that treatment plants aren't cleaning the water. It's that they aren't equipped to remove antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals entering the treatment plants. Therefore wastewater treatment becomes a fertile brew for the creation of superbugs. Good bacteria grow and replicate along with the bad and in the confined space they share resistant genetic materials, effectively selecting for multidrug resistance. Wow. Unintelligent design in action. Here's my favorite part of the press release about this paper in Science of The Total Environment: "While scientists learn more about so-called superbugs, patients can do their part by not insisting on antibiotics for ailments that antibiotics don't treat, such as a common cold or the flu." Patient, heal thyself. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 23 08:17:54 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:17:54 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Occurrence of Anti-infectives in Contaminated Wastewaters and Natural and Drinking Waters Message-ID: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/11776/11776.html Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 117, Number 5, May 2009 Review of the Occurrence of Anti-infectives in Contaminated Wastewaters and Natural and Drinking Waters Pedro A. Segura,1 Matthieu Fran?ois,1 Christian Gagnon,2 and S?bastien Sauv?1 1D?partement de Chimie, Universit? de Montr?al, Montr?al, Qu?bec, Canada; 2Aquatic Ecosystem Protection Research Division, Environment Canada, Montr?al, Qu?bec, Canada Introduction Methods Results and Discussion Conclusion Abstract Objective: Anti-infectives are constantly discharged at trace levels in natural waters near urban centers and agricultural areas. They represent a cause for concern because of their potential contribution to the spread of anti-infective resistance in bacteria and other effects on aquatic biota. We compiled data on the occurrence of anti-infectives published in the last 24 years in environmental water matrices. The collected information was then compared with the available ecotoxicologic values to evaluate potential environmental concerns. Data sources: We used Web of Science and Google Scholar to search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals written in the English language since 1984. Data extraction: Information on compound concentrations in wastewaters and natural and drinking waters, the source of contamination, country of provenance of the samples, year of publication, limits of quantification, and method of analysis was extracted. Data synthesis: From the 126 different substances analyzed in environmental waters, 68 different parent compounds and 10 degradation products or metabolites have been quantified to date. Environmental concentrations vary from about 10?1 to 109 ng/L, depending on the compound, the matrix, and the source of contamination. Conclusions: Detrimental effects of anti-infectives on aquatic microbiota are possible with the constant exposure of sensitive species. Indirect impact on human health cannot be ruled out when considering the potential contribution of high anti-infective concentrations to the spreading of anti-infective resistance in bacteria. Key words: antibacterials, antibiotics, antimicrobials, aquatic environment, drinking water, groundwater, resistance, surface water, wastewater. Environ Health Perspect 117:675?684 (2009) . doi:10.1289/ehp.11776 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 22 January 2009] From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 29 11:59:55 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 11:59:55 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> SWEDEN: Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in fertilizer Message-ID: SWEDEN: Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in fertilizer 28.may.09 BioMed Central Graeme Baldwin http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/bc-arb052709.php Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) have been found in sewage sludge, a by-product of waste-water treatment frequently used as a fertilizer. Researchers writing in the open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica point out the danger of antibiotic resistance genes passing into the human food chain. Leena Sahlstr?m, from the Finnish Food safety Authority, worked with a team of researchers from the Swedish National Veterinary Institute to study sewage sludge from a waste-water treatment plant in Uppsala, Sweden. She said, "Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat in veterinary medicine and human healthcare. Resistance genes can spread from animals, through the food-chain, and back to humans. Sewage sludge may act as one link in this chain". The researchers collected sludge from the plant every week for four months, for a total of 77 samples. Of these, 79% tested positive for the drug resistant superbugs. Although VRE themselves are not generally considered to be highly pathogenic, the danger is that they may pass on their resistance genes to other bacteria. Sahlstr?m concludes, "Our results demonstrate a need for more efficient hygienic treatment of sewage sludge, in order to avoid possible spread of antimicrobial resistance through use of sewage sludge on arable land". From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 29 12:07:29 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 12:07:29 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Sewage-cooking plant brews debate in Chicago suburbs Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: The Veolia sludge pelletizer below is set to cost the taxpayers of Chicago a fortune...but they can get out of the contract if the plant fails its technical tests. Toronto is in the same position : The Veolia sludge pelletizer never worked properly, then burned down before the city of Toronto took it over. Even though it never worked properly, it was rebuilt, and now has undertaken its competence testing....and failed. It cannot produce the quantity of sludge pellets stipulated in the contract. How many years should Toronto taxpayers fund this $60,000,000 folly? Where is an Auditor when you need one? Chicago, pay attention. The sludge pellet technology has a problem, and there is no market for the finished pellets. ..................................................................... www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blackboxmay27,0,6131769.story chicagotribune.com Sewage-cooking plant brews debate in Chicago suburbs Agency staff members say project in Stickney is no longer needed; they are exploring ways to pull out of contract By Michael Hawthorne Tribune reporter May 27, 2009 Once championed as a cutting-edge solution to the region's waste problems, a towering machine built to cook Chicago's sewage into fertilizer is scheduled for its first test next month off the Stevenson Expressway in west suburban Stickney. In an odd twist, however, officials at the government agency that contracted to build the project's 60-foot-tall sludge ovens now quietly hope the machine fails. Cryptically nicknamed the "Black Box," the project ultimately could cost taxpayers $217 million, but staff at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District recently concluded that the project isn't needed to dispose of the district's waste. They have begun exploring ways to get out of the contract and its steep price tag, which keeps growing as consultant fees and other costs pile up. The sewage-cooking project has been plagued with problems since commissioners awarded the lucrative contract nearly a decade ago to a company partly owned by the district's former superintendent, Bart Lynam -- raising suspicions of Chicago-style cronyism and questions about the vetting of the company's previous troubles. In the years since the contract was signed, district officials say they have found other means to safely dispose of the region's sludge without sending it through the ovens, despite warnings from previous officials a decade ago that the area was running out of disposal options. Now do-or-die time may be approaching for the project, which has yet to cost district taxpayers anything but could cost more than the $217 million if the agency pays off construction bonds and operates it for 20 years at the Stickney plant, one of the world's largest treatment facilities for human and industrial waste. When the district's elected commissioners recently demanded explanations, they were told by staff that the contract requires them to operate the sludge ovens for at least five years. After that, according to a staff slide presentation, the district could buy out the contract and scuttle the project, but that option would still cost taxpayers $188 million. The only immediate escape option, the staff said, depends on a series of four upcoming tests scheduled to begin in June. A company representative insists those tests will show the project works. If the ovens fail to operate properly, though, agency officials say the district can rip up the contract and avoid paying a dime. Until now, the project's costs have been covered by the company and construction bonds floated by the nearby village of Hodgkins. "We know [that starting up and operating the Black Box] is not the most cost-effective option," said Richard Lanyon, the district's current general superintendent, who took office nearly six years after the contract was awarded. Code-named Black Box even though its corrugated steel walls are painted white, the imposing machine was designed to turn about a quarter of the region's household and factory sewage from sludge into tiny dry pellets. The waste still would contain traces of heavy metals, but most pathogens would be destroyed by intense heat. Backers of the sludge plant, also known as a "pelletizer," said that would make the dried waste more marketable to sell as fertilizer to farmers or soil conditioner to park districts. Supporters also boast the machine would quiet complaints from neighboring suburbs that have long suffered the stench from more than 150,000 tons of sludge produced each year at the Stickney treatment plant. The thick gray muck -- industry prefers to call it "biosolids" -- is stored in massive lagoons and later left out to dry before it is hauled off to farms and landfills. Though the Black Box was billed as an innovative way to get rid of the region's endless stream of sludge, it has become another chapter in Chicago's tangled history of cost overruns and insider politics. In December, independent auditors hired by the district concluded the project was more than $15 million over its $54 million construction budget. The auditors also questioned more than $800,000 in overhead billed by a Lynam-owned company, Biosolids Management Inc., and his corporate partner, Veolia Water North America. Among other things, Lynam's company submitted invoices for more than $300,000 in "consulting" bills to serve as a liaison with the district and to provide "technical input" and marketing, according to records obtained by the Tribune. Lynam served as the district's general superintendent between 1973 and 1978, leaving about a year after a federal grand jury acquitted him of corruption charges. He then moved to Seattle and formed a series of companies that bid on government and industry projects. His involvement in the Stickney project dates to the late 1990s, when district officials awarded the Black Box contract to the venture he partially owns. The Tribune reported in 2007 that Chicago officials awarded the contract to Lynam's firm even though Seattle officials had shut down a similar plant operated by the venture years earlier. Soon after it opened in the early 1990s, that Seattle plant had been cited with multiple air-pollution violations, and neighbors complained about odors. In Chicago, the Black Box was championed by then-General Supt. Hugh McMillan, who once worked under Lynam and later retired to join a key subcontractor responsible for the project's design, permitting and legal counsel. Before McMillan died in 2004, he also served with Lynam as a corporate officer of a major district contractor. Lynam referred the Tribune's request for an interview to Veolia. In a previous letter to the newspaper, he called the Black Box "the nation's most modern, environmentally beneficial biosolids pelletizer plant." Veolia, a subsidiary of a French conglomerate that describes itself as the world's largest water company, said the upcoming performance tests, the first scheduled for mid-June, will prove the plant can consistently make sludge pellets that don't create a neighborhood odor problem. "We are very excited to demonstrate the capabilities of this facility," said Lou Ann Baker, a Veolia spokeswoman. "With a green focus, this will meet the needs of the district and do the right thing for the environment." However, in the years since the original contract was signed, officials have found alternative methods to market the district's sludge as fertilizer. They project that existing disposal methods will work for at least the next 40 years. Under its contract with the district, the Lynam/Veolia venture was required to start operating its sludge pelletizer by the end of 2003. Because the company has yet to fire up the giant ovens, district officials have charged the company with about $2 million in late fees. "When do we say to the taxpayers that we shouldn't use the pelletizer plant because it's too expensive?" Commissioner Patricia Horton asked at a recent district board meeting. Her question wasn't answered. mhawthorne at tribune.com From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 29 12:18:47 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 12:18:47 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Read full study: Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in Swedish sewage sludge Message-ID: To read the full provisional pdf version of this study: http://www.actavetscand.com/content/pdf/1751-0147-51-24.pdf Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in Swedish sewage sludge Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat in veterinary medicine and human healthcare. Resistance genes can spread from animals, through the food-chain, and back to humans. Sewage sludge may act as the link back from humans to animals. The main aims of this study were to investigate the occurrence of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in treated sewage sludge, in a Swedish waste water treatment plant (WWTP), and to compare VRE isolates from sewage sludge with isolates from humans and chickens. Methods: During a four month long study, sewage sludge was collected weekly and cultured for VRE. The VRE isolates from sewage sludge were analysed and compared to each other and to human and chicken VRE isolates by biochemical typing (PhenePlate), PFGE and antibiograms. Results: Biochemical typing (PhenePlate-FS) and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed prevalence of specific VRE strains in sewage sludge for up to 16 weeks. No connection was found between the VRE strains isolated from sludge, chickens and humans, indicating that human VRE did not originate from Swedish chicken. Conclusions: This study demonstrated widespread occurrence of VRE in sewage sludge in the studied WWTP. This implies a risk of antimicrobial resistance being spread to new farms and to the society via the environment if the sewage sludge is used on arable land. Author: Leena SahlstromVerena RehbinderAnn AlbihnAnna AspanBjorn Bengtsson Credits/Source: Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2009, 51:24 From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Fri May 29 13:05:27 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 13:05:27 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in sludge end up in water supply Message-ID: To read the whole study: http://jeq.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/38/3/1274 Study: MACRO Model Falls Short for Assessing PPCPs May 29, 2009 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) carried in biosolids (treated sewage sludge) may reach surface waters or groundwater when these materials are applied as fertilizer to agricultural land. During the high flow conditions created by land application of liquid municipal biosolids (LMB), the residence time of solutes in soil macropores may be too short for sorption equilibration, which increases the risk for leaching. Physically based solute transport simulation models are widely used in environmental risk assessment for pesticides. These models may also be applicable for PPCPs when their physical and chemical properties and soil dissipation characteristics are available. However, these models do not account for non-equilibrium sorption in soil macropores. The model MACRO is one of the models used in environmental risk assessments for pesticides and may have potential as an environmental risk assessment tool for PPCPs. A group of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and Trent University, Canada, evaluated the MACRO model and an updated version of MACRO that included non-equilibrium sorption in macropores using data from experiments on the transport of three PPCPs (atenolol, carbamazepine, and triclosan), the nicotine metabolite cotinine, and the strongly sorbing dye rhodamine WT applied in LMB. The study was financed by grants from the European Union (ERAPharm, project no. 511135) as well as Health Canada, the AAFC GAPs program, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nutrient Management Joint Research Program. Results from the study were published in the May-June issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. Results showed that the MACRO model could not reproduce the measured rhodamine WT concentrations in drain discharge. The updated version resulted in better fits to measured data for both PPCP and rhodamine WT concentrations. However, it was not possible to simulate all compounds using the same set of hydraulic parameters, which indicates that the model does not fully account for all relevant processes. Mats Larsbo, one of the authors of the article, stated that ?Our results show that non-equilibrium sorption in macropores has a large impact on simulated solute transport for reactive compounds contained in LMB. This process should be considered in solute transport models that are used for environmental risk assessments for such compounds.? The identification of key model processes, such as non-equilibrium sorption in macropores, is an important step in the development of better tools for environmental risk assessment for PPCPs. However, further field studies and model evaluations are needed to establish under which conditions this process plays an important role. The full article is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary. Click here to view the abstract. The Journal of Environmental Quality, is a peer-reviewed, international journal of environmental quality in natural and agricultural ecosystems published six times a year by the American Society of From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sat May 30 10:56:04 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 10:56:04 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Irradiation of cat food - a killer - proved Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin: Those of you who advocate irradiation of sewage sludge or irradiation of food - note this research. Irradiation of Canadian cat food killed dozens of pets in Australia. Irradiation is a risk - not to be thought of as something we fully understand. ...................... AUSTRALIA: Cat-food irradiation banned as pet theory proved 30.may.09 Sydney Morning Herald Kelly Burke http://www.smh.com.au/national/catfood-irradiation-banned-as-pet-theory-proved-20090529-bq8h.html A series of mysterious cat deaths was caused by the government-mandated practice of irradiating imported pet food. The Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, has ordered the controversial sterilisation process, which has been in place for more than a decade, to cease immediately, following compelling overseas evidence that some cats can suffer fatal neurological damage after eating irradiated dry food. Dogs do not appear to be affected by similarly treated food. About 90 cats fell ill last year and 30 died before a Sydney vet, Georgina Child, made the link in November between the mystery illness and a brand of Canadian gourmet pet food called Orijen. The manufacturer, Champion Petfoods, blamed the contaminated food on Australian quarantine regulations, which demand that pet food not cooked over a specified temperature undergo irradiation of 50 kiloGrays upon arrival in the country. Of the 60 countries Champion Petfoods exports to, only Australia makes irradiation compulsory. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and the company that carries out the process, Steritech, insisted at the time the irradiation process was harmless. A limited range of imported human foods, including dried herbs and some tropical fruits, are also irradiated before landing on store shelves, but at much lower levels than that mandated for pet food. Mr Burke said the inspection service decided to act in response to international reports his department received only late last week. Work was being done in state and federal governments to see how safety standards for pet food could be improved. From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 31 11:10:00 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 11:10:00 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> WYANDOTTE, MI, considers creating plant that converts sludge into methane Message-ID: Sludgewatch Admin:Lets pars this report.It says that there are 100 facilities to generate energy from sewage digester gas in the USA but only 10 of them are producing energy.And it hardly addresses the issue that even after digestion, the sludge doesn't disappear. It still needs disposal.This story suggests that the exhausted digested sludge will make good fertilizer - failing to mention that the heavy metals concentrations will be up and the plant available nitrogen levels will be about non existant. Hardly good to use as fertilizer.There is a need for better more accurate information about the reality of sludge management alternatives. ....................................................................... http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2009/05/30/news/doc4a21714ee448c466472852.txt WYANDOTTE: City considers creating plant that converts sludge into methane Published: Saturday, May 30, 2009 By Jim Kasuba WYANDOTTE ? Converting sewage sludge into energy is not as far-fetched as it seems, according to city officials. In fact, the city is seriously considering an operation that would help it meet government requirements for renewable energy usage while at the same time eliminate the cost of transporting sludge to a landfill. On March 9, American BioEnergy?s request for a six-month option to determine the feasibility of a bioenergy plant at 4200 Eighth St. was approved by the City Council. On April 2, the project was presented to the Downriver Wastewater Treatment Facility?s Joint Management Committee and members recommended that the city proceed with a formal proposal. The proposal seems to be gaining momentum, so much so that a plant that processes sewage sludge in an anaerobic digester could become a reality in less than two years. The digester produces biomethane that is utilized to generate electricity. At the council?s May 18 meeting, City Engineer Mark Kowalewski explained the potential of the plant and what it could mean to not only Wyandotte, but also to the 13 Downriver communities that send sewage to the plant. The idea probably would not have been pursued if it weren?t for a state requirement that providers of electricity obtain 10 percent of their power through renewable energy by 2015. Earlier this year, Melanie McCoy, general manager of Wyandotte Municipal Services, laid out a plan that will allow the city to comply with Public Act 295, a law that requires electricity providers to establish renewable energy and energy optimization programs. McCoy said the city plans to install three wind turbines, has signed an agreement for the purchase of methane ? or ?landfill gas? as she put it ? and was looking into the possibility of utilizing a biodigester. Of the three sources of renewable energy, the biodigester seemed to be the most ?iffy,? but since that time it has shown greater promise. ?This is a unique opportunity,? Kowalewski said. ?Basically, you would take the sludge from the sewage treatment plant, pump it to our property on Eighth (Street), just north of Central. The sludge would go into large tanks through biodigesters.? The city engineer said that as the sludge decomposes, it produces methane in enclosed tanks. The methane is then taken off the tanks and placed into engines, where it generates electricity. Location is a key component to making the project feasible and because the city has a substation just two blocks away, Kowalewski said Municipal Services could extend service lines to the plant without extraordinary expense. The reason the proposal is picking up traction has to do with federal grants that are available to private investors who build this type of plant. Kowalewski said the grants cover up to 30 percent of the cost, but the opportunity to obtain those grants ends in February. He said that Ronald and Michelle Haarer of Michigan-based American BioEnergy are partners in a company in Denmark, where the technology has been around for a long time. Kowalewski said Europe has 8,000 of these types of plants while the United States has only about 100, and just 10 of those are producing electricity. ?The United States is definitely behind the times when it comes to producing electricity from biodigesters or from sewage treatment plants,? Kowalewski said. Such plants have worked well on dairy farms. Kowalewski said he visited one in Canada and farmers there are delighted with profits they make from cow manure, even though they are in the business of selling milk. One farmer said that by the end of next year he would make more money selling electricity than dairy products, in large part because of a Canadian law that will buy renewable energy for twice the cost it takes to produce it. The city is conducting its due diligence with the company and Wayne County, which operates the wastewater treatment facility. If this is such a great idea, why hasn?t it been implemented before now? Kowalewski said the science behind it is relatively simple, but it has not been tried until now because the cost of fuel generated either by nuclear power or coal has been relatively inexpensive. As a comparison, Wyandotte generates electricity from its coal plant at 4.8 cents a kilowatt-hour. It is estimated that electricity can be generated from the biodigester system at 6 cents a kwh. Although wind turbines have been talked about locally as one of the best and most feasible renewable energy sources, it costs between 10 cents and 12 cents per kwh to generate electricity using wind power. ?We are at the right place at the right time so we need to make every effort to see if this will work,? Kowalewski said. Daniel Galeski, one of the council?s newly elected members, asked if this would eliminate the sometimes-putrid odor that permeates the south end of town. Kowalewski said it would ?go a long way to eliminate the odor? because the sludge would be handled differently. ?When the doors are open to let the trucks leave, that?s when you get the odor and they have a lot of trucks coming out of there (transporting sludge to landfills),? he said. ?In this system, the sludge will be pumped. It will never see the environment. When it goes into the digester, it?s in an enclosed tank.? What?s more, he said that, down the road, in addition to methane the plant could produce a Class A fertilizer. He said in future years the city could consider building a companion plant where it could package and then sell fertilizer. Councilwoman Sheri Sutherby-Fricke asked about the county?s position on the proposal. Kowalewski said the county and communities that utilize the treatment plant seem encouraged by a Hubbell, Roth and Clark Inc., independent report that confirms the viability of the project. Although it?s estimated to cost $32 million to build the plant, Councilman James DeSana said this is not ?up front? money. Tentatively, Kowalewski said the city would lease its property to American BioEnergy for $1 while the facility is being built. While the city continues to negotiate, he said it would get about a $200,000 annual lease payment once the facility is operating. The other revenue coming in would pay down the $32 million debt. He said Wayne County paid $3.2 million last year to transport and dump sludge into a landfill. ?A portion of that revenue would be received by Wyandotte through a sludge contract,? Kowalewski said. ?We would receive sludge revenue of about $2.8 million or $3 million. The other source of revenue is sale of electricity.? He said Municipal Services has agreed to pay 6 cents a kwh for the electricity. A Danish company that American BioEnergy is partnering with has a patent on a device that enables additional products that could be added to the sludge to generate more methane, such as food waste. ?The sludge itself will not make them a profit,? Kowalewski said. The plan would be to secure contracts with different companies that have waste food and charge a tipping fee. Another component would be yard waste. Part of a planned agreement would stipulate that the plant take residents? yard waste, which currently is trucked to a compost center in Monroe. In the long term, Kowalewski said the city should consider moving its recycling center adjacent to the biodigester facility so it could be loaded directly onto a conveyor system. Ron Haarer said the device patented by the company in Denmark kills bacteria, virtually eliminating odor from food waste. His wife, Michelle, described herself as a ?city girl,? unlike her husband, who grew up around farms. She said that smell is an issue for her and she can vouch that this process greatly diminishes odors. ?I was excited about the turbines,? Councilman Todd Browning said. ?But I?m more excited about this.? Ron Haarer said the more methane that can be produced, the less coal will be needed to generate electricity in the city. Kowalewski said agreements need to be put into place as soon as possible. The Wayne County Commission and the Wyandotte City Council both would have to approve contracts and BASF would have to enter into an indemnification agreement because the company has a deed restriction on the property. If approved, plant construction would begin by February in order to take advantage of the stimulus grant money for renewable energy. Kowalewski estimated it would take about 10 months to construct the plant. ?It?s a great thing for the city,? he said. ?In the end, everyone is a winner.? Comments -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca Sun May 31 12:02:45 2009 From: maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca (Maureen Reilly) Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 12:02:45 -0400 Subject: Sludge Watch ==> CANADA: Are we eating American beef raised on chicken manure? - BSE risk Message-ID: Comment: Chickens can be fed on animal feed that may contain Specified Risk Materials (SRM) - that can transmit mad cow disease to bovines. So if cows are eating chicken manure - it is like feeding the SRM materials to cows, since the prionic pathogens will pass through the chickens and can be transmitted through feeding the chicken manure. see: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003583249_madcow22m0.html ....................................................................... CANADA: Are we eating American beef raised on chicken manure? 30.may.09 Owen Sound Sun Times Grant Robertson http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1591092 When you think of cattle feed very few of us probably imagine chicken manure. Certainly it would be the last thing that would enter the mind of most of us from farmers to eaters. Some time ago the NFU was approached about the possible practice of feeding chicken litter to cattle in the United States, and potentially in other nations that export their beef to Canada. I say possible because it is really difficult for a farm organization in Canada to nail down what exactly is happening with this issue. Having spent a great deal of personal time trying to research this issue it has proven impossible to find the "smoking gun" of how widespread this practice is. Frankly it is going to take an enterprising news agency or journalist to follow this issue further. At this point it is hard to know where the truth really lies. Here's what we do know. Canada has banned this practice. The United States has not banned the practice of feeding chicken manure to cattle -- quite the opposite in fact. You can find the following recommendation from the University of West Virginia (as an example) on the web by simply Googling "feeding chicken litter": The following rations are based on free choice feeding and is adequate for both dry and lactating cows. Because chicken litter is high in minerals, no salt or minerals need to be fed with this ration -- 70% chicken litter and 30% hay. There are of course many concerns associated with eating beef fed on chicken manure. The more we learn about disease transfer -- such as influenza viruses, the more we realize how at risk we are in our modern world. Chicken feed has as one of its ingredients cattle in the form of crude protein from meat and bone meal. In Canada we have banned the use of specified risk materials from all animal feed. However, in the United States this is not the case. While the FDA was on track to enact a ban on April 27 this has been delayed until at least June 26 and the American beef industry is asking for further delays. So let's step back and think about this for a second. It is a practice in the United States to feed chicken litter (manure) to cattle. SRMs -- which have been connected to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could conceivably be finding their way into the scattered feed in chicken litter. American cattle are potentially eating feed that could potentially be a link to BSE. That beef is potentially coming into Canada -- and we Canadians do not want to seem to say -- "uh isn't something a bit odd here?" It seems more than likely that many of the other countries that are exporting beef to Canada, either in processed food or in straight forward cuts of beef may also be engaged in this practice. As an eater I am shocked that a practice that could conceivably link our food directly to a variety of diseases being given a pass at our borders. It is equally shocking to consider the other nasty surprises that might be found in food that uses manure as a feed source. An organization like the NFU, or any farm organization really, simply does not have the resources to follow up on an issue like this. Grant Robertson is a senior elected official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario and a national board member of the NFU. Robertson and his family farm near Paisley. CANADA: Are we eating American beef raised on chicken manure? 30.may.09 Owen Sound Sun Times Grant Robertson http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1591092 When you think of cattle feed very few of us probably imagine chicken manure. Certainly it would be the last thing that would enter the mind of most of us from farmers to eaters. Some time ago the NFU was approached about the possible practice of feeding chicken litter to cattle in the United States, and potentially in other nations that export their beef to Canada. I say possible because it is really difficult for a farm organization in Canada to nail down what exactly is happening with this issue. Having spent a great deal of personal time trying to research this issue it has proven impossible to find the "smoking gun" of how widespread this practice is. Frankly it is going to take an enterprising news agency or journalist to follow this issue further. At this point it is hard to know where the truth really lies. Here's what we do know. Canada has banned this practice. The United States has not banned the practice of feeding chicken manure to cattle -- quite the opposite in fact. You can find the following recommendation from the University of West Virginia (as an example) on the web by simply Googling "feeding chicken litter": The following rations are based on free choice feeding and is adequate for both dry and lactating cows. Because chicken litter is high in minerals, no salt or minerals need to be fed with this ration -- 70% chicken litter and 30% hay. There are of course many concerns associated with eating beef fed on chicken manure. The more we learn about disease transfer -- such as influenza viruses, the more we realize how at risk we are in our modern world. Chicken feed has as one of its ingredients cattle in the form of crude protein from meat and bone meal. In Canada we have banned the use of specified risk materials from all animal feed. However, in the United States this is not the case. While the FDA was on track to enact a ban on April 27 this has been delayed until at least June 26 and the American beef industry is asking for further delays. So let's step back and think about this for a second. It is a practice in the United States to feed chicken litter (manure) to cattle. SRMs -- which have been connected to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could conceivably be finding their way into the scattered feed in chicken litter. American cattle are potentially eating feed that could potentially be a link to BSE. That beef is potentially coming into Canada -- and we Canadians do not want to seem to say -- "uh isn't something a bit odd here?" It seems more than likely that many of the other countries that are exporting beef to Canada, either in processed food or in straight forward cuts of beef may also be engaged in this practice. As an eater I am shocked that a practice that could conceivably link our food directly to a variety of diseases being given a pass at our borders. It is equally shocking to consider the other nasty surprises that might be found in food that uses manure as a feed source. An organization like the NFU, or any farm organization really, simply does not have the resources to follow up on an issue like this. Grant Robertson is a senior elected official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario and a national board member of the NFU. Robertson and his family farm near Paisley.