Sludge, or as the waste industry now prefers it be called, Biosolids is all of the solid particulate matter received at a municipal wastewater treatment plant after the water has been pressed out of it.

Wastewater treatment plants clean effluent streams from storm sewers, homes, businesses, and industry to produce clean water under standards adopted in the Clean Water Act of 1993. These regulations address the quality of the water the treatment plant eventually returns to a local body of water be it a nearby river, stream, lake, or bay. All of the solid matter that was in the original waste stream is removed from the water and dried to various forms of sludge cake or pellets. For decades, the industry referred to this solid residue as sludge. Before 1993, sludge was routinely disposed of by dumping it at sea by the barge load, incinerating it or placing it in landfills. The Clean Water Act of 1993 stopped the environmentally harmful practice of dumping sludge at sea.

As metropolitan areas struggled to dispose of ever increasing quantities of sludge, and as the operation of landfills became increasingly more expensive, new ways of disposing of the waste were explored. Thus, the term "Biosolids" was coined by the disposal industry to make the material sound environmentally benign and to increase public acceptance.

The United States EPA in 1991 passed regulations regarding the land application of sludge which laid out the maximum quantities of some of the potentially many toxic substances allowed in the sludge at the time of the application. As of this writing, these standards have not been updated and these older standards remain in effect today.

In addition to the federal EPA regulations, the Virginia Department of Health has enacted regulations for the land application of sludge. The state has accepted the EPA's 1991 tolerance levels for toxins and applied additional regulations such as: (1)creating setbacks for land application of sludge from wells, streams, and homes; (2)the timing of the application and, (3)restrictions on the use of the land after application. The Health Department regulations are focused on the mechanics of the land application of sludge. This leaves the monitoring and policing of the application of sludge to the localities. In addition, the State's Attorney General has ruled that the localities do not have the right to prohibit the spreading of sludge within their jurisdiction. The Health Department's regulations are contained in the State Code "Biosolids Use Regulations" 12VAC 5-585. While the state has passed regulations for the land application of sludge, the expensive and onerous responsibility of monitoring and policing the prosperous sludge industry has been left to the localities.

Until recently the Madison County Board of Supervisors had a county-wide moratorium on the practice of spreading sludge. However, the sludge industry threatened the county with lawsuits, and as a result the state Health Department has issued permits to contractors to spread sludge in Madison and surrounding counties. Our Board thinks the practice of the land application of sludge is questionable at best, at worst possibly carries long term health risks for the people and land in the county. As of May 2003, the Madison County Board of Supervisors is considering the adoption of a Sludge Ordinance. If one is adopted, it will be posted at madisonmatters.com.

The 1991 Federal EPA regulation's limiting the amount of toxins in sludge intended for land application are antiquated and inadequate to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of Madison County.
As so often happens with this type of regulation, compromise leads to inadequate protection because of inequitable pressure and influence the various interests have on the regulating body. By far, the metropolitan areas are the largest generators of sludge, consequently they have the greatest need to dispose of sludge at the lowest possible cost. It is also true that the metropolitan areas have the greatest influence in the regulatory process.

The sludge industry has been "marketing" sludge as "free fertilizer" to area farmers. While sludge does contain soil nutrients and is a good soil conditioner it may not legally be sold as fertilizer.
Fertilizer must meet strict requirements as to its ability to deliver nutrients to the soil when applied as recommended. Because of the variability of waste streams, at present, there is no way for the sludge industry to guarantee an analysis of the content of the sludge. The effect of the application is an imbalance in soil nutrients. Thus the farmer is left to contend with this imbalance which can be costly and time consuming. Currently, Va. Tech. extension service does not recommend the use of sludge as fertilizer. Standards for applying sludge to crop land are less stringent than regulations for applying manure - mainly due to the different state regulatory bodies overseeing the practice.

The monitoring and policing of the sludge industry is inadequate to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Madison County.
At present, there is no monitoring program in Madison County for land applied sludge. Without such a program the landowner and the county are vulnerable to mistakes and abuses of the industry. Any costs of monitoring the industry in the county will be borne by all the citizens of the county and not the industry or the applicant. An adequate monitoring program could be prohibitively expensive for Madison and divert revenue from other important social programs.

No adequate long term studies have been done on the buildup of toxins in the soil or its presence in groundwater due to land applied sludge.
It is known that the heavy metals and other toxins present in sludge, even at levels permitted by the EPA, do not migrate in the clay soils of the Central Piedmont. This means that repeated applications of sludge will result in toxicity levels in the soil that exceed acceptable levels for grazing and growing crops. The effect on groundwater supplies is also not currently being monitored. The USDA in its new regulations establishing national organic standards, prohibits the use of sludge on land used for the production of certified organic food.

If the information presented in this article raises the level of knowledge about this subject, or prevents just one family from being negatively affected by the land application of sludge, then it will have been worth my effort. Please take time to do additional reading about the practice. If you know someone who is considering the application of sludge, I encourage you to discuss with them the long term risks associated with the practice.

Robert Miller - May 2003