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Editorial
Sludge
By this time next week the Board of Supervisors ‘ probably will have readopted a ban on the land application of sludge. i
At a plublic hearing Monday evening the supervisors and Planning Commission will consider readopting the ban. The ~ action is being taken in response to the suit brought against • the county for the current ban.
Since voting to hold the hearing the supervisors and two « members of the Planning Commission have visited the Blue l Plains sewage treatment plant in Washington, D.C. County r. Administrator John McCarthy has gathered Articles, letters l and other literature on both sides of the isstie.
Neither a visit to the plant nor a review of the literature t is particularly reassuring on the safety of sludge.
Certainly sludge can save the farmer on the cost of l fertilizer. It is less likely than conventional fertilizer to wash into streams, and it helps prevent soil erosion. Rules on sludge application are more stringent than for application of • regular fertilizers or animal manures, making it less likely to T spread to neighboring properties or streams.
Because the Washington metropolitan area has very r little industry, the sludge produced at Blue Plains tests much I lower in heavy metals than other municipal sludges. P Nevertheless, there are reasons to question the safety of ; land application of Blue Plains sludge. It contains residues, T not only from whatever is flushed down toilets and sinks in • Washington, D.C. and its suburbs, but also much of what’can “r be found on the streets. Only in subdivisions added in the last I 15 years is storm runoff separated from sewage. •» While each day’s production of sludge is tested for a r variety of heavy metals and other potentially harmful l chemicals, the testing is done at the Blue Plains plant itself. Since Blue Plains has no way to get rid of any sludge that might test unsatisfactory for land application, incentives are built in to pass all sludge produced. There is no evidence that this system has led to abuses, but there are also no true ; checks on it. ! Testing for all known hazardous materials would be j prohibitively expensive. There is no way of knowing how ; many hazardous chemicals are in sludge that are not on the ! list of chemicals being measured. • A continued ban on the land application of sludge seems ; prudent. However, that hardly guarantees our safety.
Agricultural pesticides and fertilizers presently in use in • the county present many hazards. Our land, air and water, ; both surface water and underground water, are steadily ■ becoming poisoned by our “way of life. ”
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