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sewage sludge. The sewage industry has worked hard to improve the image of its byproduct and to make it more “marketable." The Federation of Sewage Works Associations changed its name several times to become what is now the Water Environment Federation. Dumping was renamed “recycling”. A contest was held to find a more appealing name for sludge and the winner was “biosolids.”
States are allowed to adopt their own use and regulation policies.
Virginia has its own sludge use regulations, which are more lenient than those of the EPA rules.
As Northern Virginia gets more and more overpopulated, the push to get rid of their waste becomes immense. Rappahannock County is near enough to the booming metro area to become a very handy and attractive dumping ground for sludge.
EPA has never conducted a risk assessment on the harm to human health from the pathogens in surface applied sludge. This includes waterborne pathogens and airborne viruses, bacteria, endotoxins, molds, fungi, etc. The EPA has never conducted a risk assessment into the ecological risks of the harm to wildlife, soil and other ecological biosystems from sludge.
The agency acknowledges that land-applied sludge emits toxic (odor-causing) gases including dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, methyl mercaptan, trimethylamine and ammonia, which other government agencies have warned can cause great harm to human health if inhaled or ingested.
The Inspector General of the EPA conduced an internal investigation of the agency which concluded in March 2000 that “EPA does not have an effective program for ensuring compliance with the land application requirements of Part 503”; and “Accordingly, while EPA promotes land application,
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