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-makes ultimate sense; no one could afford to build a waste discharge that would meet existing water quality standards.
And, as I have said, Tier III is a “piece of cake” when compared to other water quality requirements coming down the road-such as toxic and nutrient reduction regulations designed to restore Chesapeake Bay.
ROBERT T. DENNIS
President
Sludge Is
Everybody's
Problem
To the Editor:
The public hearing by the Planning Commission on application of sludge on suitable land in the County revealed once again an all too pervasive attitude in our socidtv. The attitude is that the production and disposal of human waste is not my problem-let someone else take care of it. Farm communities produced food which is consumed by the population at large. Excrement is the end product, and what are we going to do with it? To say that is the cities problem to solve, and we are not part of that society, is downright moronic. We are an interdependent society and we must work together to solve our mutual problems.
Very strong- safeguards have been instituted by the Federal and State Health Departments, the State Water Control Board and the EPA to assure proper treatment and application. If the opponents to sludge application will produce evidence of spread of disease then let it be seem.
The other problem that our public officials need to address is the disposal of our own septage. At present, the County has a very small treatment plant for the sewer system of the village of Sperry ville and there is a small package plant at Aileen. Neither of these plants can handle additional raw sewage from the septic tanks from the rest of the County. There are approximately 3,000 household in the County and several restaurants and small industries. A tank has to be emptied approximately every ten years; business do it more often, especially in the town of Washington. Each year about 300 tanks need to be emptied. Where do we put this raw sewage (also called septage)? It is transported to adjacent counties for treament and disposal.
In the not too distant future, the adjacent counties will not accept our untreated waste just as they are unwilling to take our trash. What are the county officials going to tell the citizens when the tank needs to be emptied? The citizens will have to find alternative ways to dispose of the septage and it won’t be cheap. This very senario happened about three years ago. There is only approximately 2,000 acres of land in the county that could be used to apply TREATED SLUDGE. By a vote of 4-2 by the Planning Commission and by a previous vote of 4-1 by the Supervisors, sludge cannot be ap
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