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Sludge Has Unknowns
The Planning Board and Board of Supervisors have made the right decision banning treated sewage - sludge. It should not be spread on farmland.
Rappahannock County is not alone in banning sludge. Some banks in the northeast are refusing to issue mortgages on sludged land, and; are requiring no-sludge convenants ori mortgages they do make. The Grain and Feed Association $f Oklahoma, a-large and powerful agricultural group in the country’s breadbasket, prohibits sludge on members’ land where wheat is groyvn. Amongother things they fear that millers and bakers won’t be able to sell their goods produced from sludged wheat and flour.
Some of the feeling about sludge may be nothing more than a perception problem. But it is a perception that affects the farmer’s pocketbook. (“Do you want to buy a loaf of bread made from sludged wheat?”) The Oklahoma farmers are not going to jeopardize their image and livelihood for some free fertilizer.
It is true that the chance of catching an infectious disease from sludge, such as AIDS or hepatitis, is virtually nonexistent. The organisms simply cannot survive in the sludge ' environment long enough to be a hazard.
But who knows what else may be in the sludge? People toss anything and everything down toilets and into the sewage. Industrial chemicals, hazardous wastes, metallic compounds - they all go down the drain. It may be illegal, but it’s a fast and easy way for unscrupulous individuals and companies to dispose of hazardous materials. Controls and safeguards are spotty, and not every load is tested, as even Bio-Gro, the company marketing the sludge, acknowledges. ^ There is no way to ensure the purity and composition of ^ghat is spread on the fields. One mistake and a field can be Aboil^foB-generations.
In essence, sludge should be as pure as drinking water ■£nd subject to as many safeguards and controls and balances as drinking water. Until it is, most people won’t accept sludge. *55
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