Is Municipal Sludge useful?

Once Municipal waste water is treated, the sludge, also known as BioSolids, are dried and applied to land as fertilizer. There is a lot of controversy over this use of sludge. Harmful effects and beneficial effects with data and testing on both sides are hotly debated. All this resulted in the EPA Part 503 rule dealing with the disposal of sludge on land.

One of the best accounts of the effects of the bugs/pollutants in the sludge after treatment, is in the book - The Big Necessity. A chapter called BioSolids explains the Citizens and the Municipality's point of view. a must read.

EPA rules referred to as the 503 rule, addresses the pathogens ( bugs) in the residual sludge ( Biosolids) . States need to adopt this or make there own rules up. These rules are very difficult to follow, police or implement. so there is uncertainty and confusion with each state having it's own set of codes and rules.

In a recent publication of the EPA, about 3300 water treatment plants were tested for residual pollutants ( these are plants treating > 1 Mil. gallons a day ). Trace elements of Pharmaceuticals were found in most of the effluent. Antibiotics and endocrine disruptors appear to be the problem pollutants that persist ( although in Trace amounts ) in the treated water.

Now the EPA will study the "fate an degradation rate" of these pollutants .. that is , how fast do these pollutants degrade to become harmless to humans, and what concentrations do they need to be in, to be harmful in the first place.

Countering the EPA's report is a report out today that shows estrogen in mineral water bottles, leaching out of plastic as XenoHormone ( compound that mimics a hormone)



... to be continued..