[Durham INC] Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study

Fri Jun 5 16:22:03 EDT 2009

If you haven't attended a showing of the 'sludge movie' or a related forum about sludge application to farmland and open fields throughout the Triangle, then you really do so.

We learned from the Jordan Lake Rules Saga that agricultural run-off is a major source of contaminants in our waterways. Yet the EPA is marketing sludge (from waste-water treatment plants) as 'safe fertilizer,' despite the fact that they have YET to determine its total composition and whether its components are harmful to human health. They are deeming it safe until problems surface, and THEN they'll do the science. Completely backwards -- and contrary to protecting public health and safety. 

Heavy Metals, PCB's, all sorts of known carcinogens and other poisons have been found in sludge, yet the EPA doesn't require that these be measured, much less regulated. This stuff is deemed unsafe for our landfills, yet we are dispersing it on our farmland, and it is ultimately ending up in our crops, livestock and watersupply.

It's a travesty that this problem has been virtually ignored by the Jordan Lake Rules.

Please write to all the triangle jurisdictions and demand that they test the sludge coming out of their water treatment plants. It's the least they can do for our health.

My letter to several elected officials (including orange county commissioner and manager) is below.

--Melissa (Rooney)

--- On Fri, 6/5/09, Melissa Rooney <mmr121570 at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Melissa Rooney <mmr121570 at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study
To: barryj at earthlink.net, lblackmon at co.orange.nc.us
Cc: mike at mikewoodard.com, Diane.Catotti at durhamnc.gov, beckymheron at nc.rr.com, ereckhow at aol.com, glucier at earthlink.net, SallyKost at gmail.com, randy at voller.org, frances.dancy at hillsboroughnc.org, sdayton at swcp.com, eric.hallman at hillsboroughnc.org, ed.harrison at mindspring.com
Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 4:10 PM

Hello. I am writing you concerning the email strain below, which I hope you will review. Why has orange county backed out of doing the sludge study?

Considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars that triangle municipalities are going to have to spend to clean up Jordan Lake, one would think that the least Orange County could do is ensure that the sludge sprayed on adjacent/nearby farmland does not contain dangerous contaminants -- for their citizens' as well as plant and wildlife consumption.

I was disappointed that no orange county commissioners were present at the sludge forum in Hillsborough last night. It was very informative. The EPA is marketing sludge as safe biosolids, but they haven't even done an analysis of what's IN the sludge. They are assuming this stuff is safe UNTIL problems develop, rather than the other way around. Every
 county's governing body owes it to the public to test ANYTHING that could end up in our food or our waterways, however indirectly. The public pays for the water treatment plants, so they have every right to know what's coming out of them and being dispersed throughout their county.

Thanks for your response to this very serious concern.

Sincerely,
Melissa

Melissa Rooney, Ph.D.
301 Spring Garden Drive
Durham, NC 27713
mmr121570 at yahoo.com

--- On Wed, 6/3/09, fg325 at aol.com <fg325 at aol.com> wrote:

From: fg325 at aol.com <fg325 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Sludge] Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study
To: sludge at lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 5:00 PM

Sue:

The farmers sign a NC DWQ designated Agreement with the Permittee (municipality or sludge generator) and in this agreement, item # 21 says that state and LOCAL OFFICIALS and/or their representatives have the right to enter the property to take soil, surface water and groundwater samples during the term of, and for 12 months after the termination of the Agreement.  (See attached)  

The question is:  The Orange County Director of Environmental Health (Definitely a Local Official--and the Board of County Commissioners are Local Officials as well) or a designated representative (UNC) requested permission to take samples and were refused entry.  Does this refusal negate the permit?  Is this illegal?  

This is DWQ Form # LOAA 090401

N.

-----Original Message-----

From: Sue Dayton <sdayton at swcp.com>

To: 'Sludge' <sludge at lists.ibiblio.org>

Sent: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 3:57 pm

Subject: Re: [Sludge] Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study

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Hi Melissa:

Apparently, there were some farmers who did agree to participate in the study, but by that time the researchers involved had already decided to bag it. Also, I understand that both the state and county have the authority to sample water on a property. 

Another way to look at this: If a study of sludge was conducted and various contaminants were found, then what? Then there would be yet another call to fund yet another study to determine if the contaminants pose a risk to human health and the environment. Good luck to all of us. 

And on and on....and running the risk of becoming a major stall tactic and/or a never-ending roadblock to any possibility of stopping land application and replacing it with a safer alternative. 

Most all tributaries carry wastewater effluent that is discharged into them from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). We already know that there is an array of contaminants present in wastewater effluent that is not tested for or removed or regulated. These include pharmaceutical drugs, hormones, endocrine disrupting chemicals, flame retardants, antimicrobials, metals, radionuclides, pathogens, etc. – stuff that ultimately concentrates in sewage sludge that is present in all WWTP effluent that ultimately is discharged into tributaries that feed Orange County’s water supply. 

The never-ending cycle....

Sue Dayton

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

North Carolina Healthy Communities Program

PO BOX 44

Saxapahaw, NC 27340

(336) 525-2003

sdayton at swcp.com

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.   -  Martin Luther King Jr.

From: sludge-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:sludge-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Rooney

Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:32 AM

To: Sludge

Subject: Re: [Sludge] Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study

What's up with this? Can't they declare the stream as a waterway important to the integrity of Orange County's water supply and thus require that the stream be tested? 

With the Jordan Lake rules near completion, one would thing that testing streams and waterways throughout the county would be permissable, regardless of private property rights...

Melissa

--- On Wed, 6/3/09, Sue Dayton <sdayton at swcp.com> wrote:

From: Sue Dayton <sdayton at swcp.com>

Subject: [Sludge] Chapel Hill News: Orange County Won't Do Sludge Study

To: "'Sludge'" <sludge at lists.ibiblio.org>

Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 8:44 AM

County Won’T Do Sludge Study 

Officials HAD allotted $10,000 to study sludge –treated soil.

MARK SCHULTZ, Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL - Orange County will drop plans for a sewage sludge study because it can't find any land to test, the county's environmental health director said Monday 

"It's a regrettable outcome," Tom Konsler said. "I think everyone was looking for something to happen with this." 

The Orange County Board of Commissioners had approved $10,000 for the pilot study in response to some rural residents' concerns that sludge, also known as biosolids, was making them sick. 

The study was to be done with Mark Sobsey, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at UNC, and an associate now at N.C. State University . It was intended to be a pilot study leading to a more thorough assessment of air, soil and stream quality before and after application of sludge. 

Farmers use sludge, the byproduct of the sewage treatment process, as free fertilizer because it is high in nitrogen and phosphorus. Sludge is also spread on fields where its nutrient content turns grass an emerald green. 

"We had two really good sites," Konsler said. But in both cases the farmers changed their minds. 

"The farmers were not willing, as they put it, to risk the family farm on what someone might do with the results," he said. 

A farmer in northern Orange County offered land for testing, but it did not have suitable topography to test both upstream and downstream of the sludge application field. 

The county also approached the Orange Water and Sewer Authority and Durham , which both apply biosolids in the county. OWASA's sludge is classified class A, too highly treated for the purposes of this study, Konsler said, while Durham spreads a dry cake application, also not suited for the pilot program. 

Meanwhile, two groups concerned about biosolids -- The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and the Center for Health, and Environment and Justice --will host a community forum from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Cane Creek Baptist Church Activity Center , 6901 Orange Grove Road in Hillsborough. 

The scheduled speakers are 

• Stephen Lester, science director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, a national nonprofit organization led by Love Canal activist Lois Gibbs assisting communities to prevent, reduce and eliminate exposure to toxic chemicals; 

• Elaine Chiosso, Haw Riverkeeper and executive director of the Haw River Assembly, a nonprofit organization founded in 1982 to restore the Haw River and to protect Jordan Lake; 

• Ed Hallman, lead attorney with Decker, Hallman, Barber & Briggs, who represented two families in separate lawsuits filed against the City of Augusta, Ga., claiming deaths of dairy cattle and loss of productive farmland as a result of sewage sludge containing hazardous waste spread on their dairy farms; 

• Myra Dotson, chairwoman of the newly formed Sewage Sludge Action Network, an Orange County group dedicated to increasing public awareness of the potential risks of sewage sludge on farmlands. 

The forum is co-sponsored by the Haw River Assembly, the Sewage Sludge Action Network, and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

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