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Are We Killing Ourselves?
"The Case For Caution" is a well documented study that questions the health and safety of sludge applied to agriculture under the EPA Rule 503.Read the executive summary and the recommendations.
12-22-00 The Case For Caution - Adobe Reader download file. 589 KB is approximately a 3-minute download. This academic white paper published by Cornell University Waste Management Institute is critical of current EPA PART 503 RULE and goes on to offer solutions. (If this link doesn't work, click here.) 11-5-00 Ever wondered whether other factors than health and safety entered into determining metal loading limits?11-3-00 Commissioners vote 5-0 to support PRA's legislative request for labeling of agricultural lands that receive sludge.
Everyone is invited to share information through the use of this site. The intended purpose is to coordinate research and investigation that is currently being pursued by the St. Mary's County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, the St. Mary's County Commission on the Environment, the Potomac River Association, Inc., and any other interested parties. To submit information or links to other webpages (and be specific), email it to the SLUDGE site manager.
The information is organized by who provided it:
The first date is the date posted on this website. Then, a short description of the article may follow.
11-9-00 Most everything about EPA sludge requirements under EPA PART 503 RULE.
11-2-00 List of permits issued by MDE for St. Mary's County. Updated June 30, 2000.
10-27-00 Pennsylvania Ceiling Concentration Limits For Beneficial Use By Land Application Of Sewerage Sludge - Chart is very similar to EPA 503 "Ceiling Limit Table 1"
10-8-00 Maryland Farm Bureau letter endorsing S.B.733 to require disclosure of sludge application to land. "For these reasons, Maryland Farm Bureau policy calls for a permanent record on land deeds concerning the use of sewage sludge."
10-3-00 Kyle Rambo of the Patuxent Naval Air Station answers questions about sludge use at Webster Field.
9-18-00 Maryland Department of the Environment Factsheet on Sludge -
This report is pro sludge application to soil.
12-22-00 The Case For Caution - Adobe Reader download file. 589 KB is approximately a 3-minute download. This academic white paper published by Cornell University Waste Management Institute is critical of current EPA PART 503 RULE and goes on to offer solutions. (If this link doesn't work, click here.)10-3-00 Civilization & Sludge: Notes on the History of the Management of Human Excreta by Abby A. Rockefeller - "Conclusion: At all levels of technical sophistication, damage is done to water, soil, and human health--whether by the pit latrine, the flush toilet, the septic tank/leach field, or, most insidiously and destructively, by the central sewage collection and treatment plant, which creates an unpredictably toxic, and therefore unrecyclable, sludge."
10-2-00 Metal Speciation and Toxicity in Sewage Sludge by Annika Ekvall; School of Civil Engineering - Department of Sanitary Engineering; Postgraduate Programme in Sanitary Engineering 1995
11-1-00 Culpepper News - Very interesting stories about alleged environmental damage from sludge applications. Notes well water contamination and also mentions restrictions that localities utilize to fund inspections and analyses.
10-11-00 The Daily Record, "Scientist Warns Against Use Of Sludge On Farms" This article warns against use of class B sludge outside Columbus Ohio.
10-10-00 Washington Post article, "WSSC Set To Close Sludge Plant; Operation Couldn't Obliterate Odors" January 1999.
9-28-00 "CDC Sounds Warning on Risks of Sludge" - USA Today, July 13, 2000 Treatment plant workers may be at risk. Also two related stories: "Officials Wouldn't Blame Sludge" and "State Probe Wrongly Blamed Bee Sting".
9-28-00 "Officials Won't Blame Sludge" - USA Today, July 13, 2000. Can just the fumes make you so sick that you die?
9-28-00 "State Probe Wrongly Blamed Bee Sting - USA Today, July 13,2000. Can riding your ATV through sludge get you ten feet under?
9-28-00 "Scientists debate fertilizing soils with sewerage sludge" from Environmental Science & Technology, an Americal Chemical Society publication. Loads very slowly.
9-28-00 The Enterprise article on sludge use in St. Mary's County. (summer 2000)
9-19-00 More Waters Test Positive for Drugs by J. Raloff Article from Science News Online - Week of April 1, 2000; Vol. 157, No. 14: The author makes the assertion that sewerage is partially responsible for traceable drugs in our environment.
11-3-00 PRA's year 2000 legislative request for labeling of certain agricultural lands that receive sludge.10-6-00 Website dedicated to Pennsylvania land applications of sludge.
10-5-00 Open paper prepared and presented by the Potomac River Association, Inc to the St. Mary's County Commission on the Environment on October 4, 2000. (live on cable channel 12) Biosolids use in St. Mary's County, Maryland : Issues and concerns relating to the application of biosolids to agricultural lands in St. Mary's County.
10-4-00 Website dedicated to informing the public on issues of sludge. "It is the mission of the National Sludge Alliance to protect public health and the environment from the adverse effects of sludge and the processes that generate sludge." And inside the site one can read, " . . . in March of 1997, Senator McCormack of Vermont introduced state bill S179 to restrict pollutants to 1/10 the levels allowed by EPA in 40 CFR 503 sewage sludge use and disposal regulation." Information slightly dated - mostly from 1997. Content appears to be opposed to agricultural use of sludge.
10-3-00 Bob Harper reflects on sludge at Webster Field.
10-1-00 Maryland's Outhouse - Vernon Gray; Article published in St. Mary's Today last month. Takes shots at the sludge feast now going on in St. Mary's County.
Welcome! Want to learn what Maryland Department of the Environment requires for sludge application permits?
Ever wondered where St Mary's County is putting all the sludge? Check out the permits issued by MDE.
Sometimes a news release will get you thinking. Check out these form the Culpepper News.
Wonder what is being done by the local environmental group, Potomac River Association, Inc.