The sludging of America: sewage waste spread on farms and landfills is causing chronic health problems

E: The Environmental Magazine, May-June, 1996 by Tom Bisogno

Zander and Baker are not alone. Chronic health problems caused by sewage sludge - treated material waste from municipal sewage plants - have become a growing national problem since Congress banned ocean dumping in 1992 without mandating safe alternatives. Although, says Dr. Peter Motavalli, a soil scientist at the University of Guam, hazardous materials like lead, mercury, zinc and cadmium are supposed to be removed from the sludge, problems do occur when poorly treated sludge is over-applied. "But there are also many success stories," Motavalli says.

Instead of dumping at sea hundreds of thousands of tons of municipal sewage sludge containing infected human feces, hospital wastes, bacteria, viruses, dioxins, PCBs, asbestos, industrial waste, heavy metals and a whole range of other pollutants, the material is now being spread on America's landfills, farmlands and prairies. The waste, known to contain 25 carcinogens and considered too dangerous for the oceans, is now processed with chemicals, pelletized or composted with garbage, yard waste and cement dust. This "fertilizer" is then donated or sold to landfill operations, farms and landscapers.

Because sewage sludge is the accumulated solids concentrated during the treatment of a community's wastewater, it contains whatever pollutants are in the area's households, businesses, hospitals, industries, institutions and sometimes storm sewers.

In many cases, unsuspecting neighbors are given no warning. Dr. Stanford Tackett, professor emeritus of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Chemistry Department, warns that "one application of sewage sludge to the land adds more lead per acre than 50 years of driving with leaded gasoline."

Microbiologist Dr. John Duda, laboratory technical director at Brownsville General Hospital in Pennsylvania, cautions that "infectious agents pass through patients' stools and wind up in the sludge."

A growing number of institutions and individuals are becoming aware of these risks. Major food packers like DelMonte and Heinz have already banned "sludged" produce to protect their consumers. Farm Credit Bureaus are refusing to finance "sludged" farms due to the financial risks from contaminated soils. Insurance companies have inserted environmental liability exclusions in their policies to protect themselves against substantial claims.

Their fear was confirmed when William Parker, an American farmer in the Bahamas, was awarded $6.9 million in damages after sewage sludge fertilizer infected with bacteria destroyed his papaya crop.

Sierra Blanca, Texas residents are being assisted by Hugh B. Kaufman, an EPA official, after reports of severe nausea and burning eyes from an operation there that imports sludge from New York City. An investigation into the permitting process which approved the operation is underway and major lawsuits are pending.

Soil scientists are concerned that the heavy metals and chemical toxins which remain in these products will damage crop soils and eventually leach into groundwater. The ammonia odors created by the high Ph levels, airborne dust particles and flies attracted to these facilities have already caused citizen groups across the country to take action.

In Harmony, New Jersey, Lois Markle, president of Save Our Land And Environment (SOLE), reports that her group filed a lawsuit because "odors from a regional sludge composting facility were so strong that children could not play outdoors and wedding guests had to flee when a powerful stench overwhelmed the reception."

On the Torrez-Martinez Indian Reservation in California, tribal members and Greenpeace activists recently blocked sludge shipments after tests showed that the groundwater beneath a huge mound of dried sewage fertilizer was polluted with heavy metals and toxic compounds.

Charlotte Hartman, a member of Albany, New York's Citizens Environmental Coalition, urges the issuing of "no net degradation" standards for the disposal of sewage sludge. She further calls for full public disclosure of sludge spreading to area farmers and communities. Some scientific observers recommend full-scale epidemiological studies to determine the public health implications of current sludge practices. Unchecked, the sludging of America may wreak more havoc on the land than it did in the ocean.

CONTACT: Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes, P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040/(703)237-2249; Help for Sewage Sludge Victims, 2003 Pang-born, Lynden, WA 98264/(360)354-1513.