[Community_garden] Back to bio solids

[Mike McGrath]

A listener (I think she is, anyway) sent this to me a few days ago. I 
realize these 'solids' are more Class X than Class A, but this is pretty 
scary stuff....

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <carroll_biz at earthlink.net>
To: <ybyg at ptd.net>; "Youbet Yourgarden" <garden at whyy.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 6:23 PM
Subject: Article for Mike: sewage sludge for cows


> Court ruling, contaminated milk raise questions about using sewage plant
> wastes as fertilizer
>
> Associated Press     (03/06/08)     John Heilprin
>
> http://www.macon.com/220/story/287648.html
>
> A recent U.S. District Court ruling in Georgia has ordered the U.S.
> Department of Agriculture to compensate a dairy farmer whose hundreds of
> cows died after grazing on hay treated with sewage sludge from a waste
> water treatment plant. Dairy farmer Andy McElmurray sought compensation
> after fertilizing his land with  biosolids, under a 30 year-old
> government policy that encourages farmers to spread sewage sludge over
> their land. In McElmurrays case, the sludge contained levels of arsenic,
> toxic heavy metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls some two to 2,500 times
> the federal health standards, according to a study cited in Judge Anthony
> Alaimos ruling. McElmurray will also be compensated by the city of
> Augusta, Georgia, which settled a lawsuit with him for $1.5 million. In
> addition, nearby dairy farmer Bill Boyce recently settled with Augusta for
> $550,000 after losing more than 300 cows. Boyce claims that he informed
> Georgia dairy regulators and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
> (EPA) that tests conducted on his cows milk showed levels of thallium at
> 120 times the concentration allowed by EPA in drinking water. They
> concluded our permit was good, and we could continue to sell milk. So we
> did, said Boyce. The federal policy, promulgated under authority of the
> Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, encourages
> farmers to use sludge for fertilizer, as giving it to farmers is cheaper
> than burning or burying it. About seven million tons of such biosolids are
> produced each year as a byproduct from 1,650 waste water treatment plants
> around the country, and slightly more than half of which becomes
> fertilizer.
>
>
>
> [Editors note: To read Standards for the use or disposal of sewage
> sludge, 40 C.F.R. § 503, see
> http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=2ca7ef1663d9e7e5f405c79cd465059a&rgn=div5&view=text&node=40:29.0.1.2.40&idno=40.
> For a Plain English Guide to the EPA Part 503 Biosolids Rule, see
> http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/biosolids/503pe/index.htm.]
>
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>                   --Anne Carroll
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