[Terrapreta] sewage sludge charcoal

[Philip Small]

At some level, sludge is a resource with beneficial constituents.  Sludge is
ubiquitous, and we all contribute to its production.  We all share in the
responsibility for figuring out how to put it to use, and how to keep it
clean enough to put it to use.  Do you give your septic tank solids to a
third party without knowing where it is going? A lot of us do, and that must
change.   For those of us who are waste water treatment ratepayers, we are
as responsible for sludge quality as a corporate shareholder is for the
social impact of their corporation that they have tied their retirement to.
If your city is producing toxic sludge, what else are they doing to the
environment, what other costs are they passing downstream to our
grandchildren?  I want to live in a community where the sludge we produce is
clean enough to make soil-amendment grade char. I should think we all do.

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca>
wrote:

> Try googling "using sewage sludge fertilizer"
>
> Farmers are becoming very leery of using sewage sludge.  You can easily
> find hundreds of articles and many organizations questioning the safety and
> proving the existence of toxins in sewage sludge.
>
> *Just for one example, try this article about a farmer who lost hundreds
> of cows to the toxins in sewage sludge.  He has successfully sued USDA.
>  "Questions Raised About Using Sewage as Fertilizer"*
>
> "In one case, according to test results provided to the AP, the level of
> thallium — an element once used as rat poison — found in the milk was 120
> times the concentration allowed in drinking water by the *Environmental
> Protection Agency*<http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=U.S.+Environmental+Protection+Agency>
> .
>
> Judge Alaimo ordered the government to compensate dairy farmer *Andy
> McElmurray*<http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Andy+McElmurray>because 1,730 acres he wanted to plant in corn and cotton to feed his herd
> was poisoned. The sludge contained levels of arsenic, toxic heavy metals,
> and PCBs two to 2,500 times federal health standards.
> By Associated Press,  March 7, 2008    http://www2.nysun.com/article/72525
>
>
> Here's an article from University of Georgia researchers who determined
> that 2 people died from the spreading of sewage sludge:
>
>
> http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/University-of-Georgia-researchers-link-increased-risk-of-illness-to-sewage-sludge-used-as-fertilizer-7106-1/
>
>
> Unfortunately, as you will find on the web, these are not isolated
> examples.  They are only the tip of the iceberg.
>
> Personally, I won't touch this 'free fertilizer', even though I would get
> paid to take it.
>
>
> Gerrit
>
>
>
> On 9-Apr-08, at 11:11 AM, Michael Bailes wrote:
>
> Well google gives me several pages of regulations about 'shitting on
> ships' but little else.
>
> Why would industrial contaminants and waste be allowed in the sewage
> system?
> m
>
> On 10/04/2008, Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> >
> > Lou,
> >
> > I know it seems unbelievable.  I didn't understand it until we had a
> > discussion about taking sewage from the local municipality and spreading it
> > on our land.  Cities have two only two types of sewers: storm (rainwater)
> > and sanitation (i.e. 'sewage' waste - both home and factory).    Based on
> > the amount of toxic chemicals, officials try to guage how much you can put
> > on your land without poisoning the land too much that would make the crops
> > too poisonous to eat...
> >
> > Gerrit
> >
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