Commenter:
Dr. Lynton S. Land, Northumberland Association for Progressive Stewardship
Reasons to ban the land appliction of sewage sludge
1) Health problems are well documented, especially for individuals with compromised immune systems, certain kinds of allergies, etc. Just as peanuts don't affect most people, peanuts can kill a select few. The same is true of sludge. Several people are alleged to have been killed.
2) The pharmaceuticals now known to be present in sludge (see research by the United States Geoloical Survey) have unknown effects. Common sense dictates that it is unwise to spread substances on the land when small quantities of them are known to have powerful biologic consequences. Similarly, the antibiotics being spread on the land increase the liklihood that antibiotic-resistent bacteria will evolve.
3) Land application in the name of "free fertilizer" causes massive pollution of Chesapeake Bay. See my article in the December isssue of the"Bay Journal" or the web site www.VaBayBlues.org. The cost to society of the increased pollution far outweighs the cost-savings for a few farmers. No politician can support the land-appliction of sewage sludge and at the same time claim to be in favor of reducing nutrification of Chesapeake Bay.
4) The cost of landfilling the sludge is less than $1.00 per year for each citizen served by a wastewater treatment facility. If done properly, the landfill could generate methane. Burning the organic material in the sludge would not impact global warming because the carbon is not "fossil" carbon, and phosphorus could be recovered from the ash.