Biosolids big bucks

A ‘resource’ in more ways than one

By SANDY LONG

NARROWSBURG, NY — Some used to call it nightsoil, hearkening to the practice of applying raw human excrement to farm fields to increase soil fertility under cover of darkness. Back then, local waste hauler Ned Lang’s father applied septage to his own farm at the top of Peggy Runway, now Steep Hill Road in Pennsylvania. “My father utilized this resource, and we had the best crops around,” said Lang, who today provides biosolids, or treated sewage sludge, to 34 sites in Wayne County and two in Pike County, PA.

The name of Lang’s product is OrganaGrow, and it is the end result of a process that begins with everything we flush away or pour down a drain. His company, EnviroVentures, Inc., based in Narrowsburg, processes the wastewater it collects from residential septic systems, municipal wastewater treatment plants and food processors throughout the four-county region of Pike and Wayne in Pennsylvania and Sullivan and Orange in New York. “We bring it in, mix it, kill it, and send it out,” Lang said.

The past president of the national association of waste transporters began land applying biosolids roughly 15 years ago. Today, the company employs 36 full-timers and has offices in South Jersey, Central Jersey and upstate New York, although processing only occurs at the Narrowsburg site. He calls it a tough business that is heavily regulated.

To successfully meet those regulations, Lang draws on the services provided by Diane Garvey, president of Garvey Resources, a consulting firm specializing in biosolids for wastewater treatment plants, processors and research organizations.

How it happens

Lang describes the procedure for processing sewage sludge into Class A biosolids this way: “We either bring sludge back that is already dewatered and in a semi-solid form or process it in our facility here. Our screening process pulls out the non-biodegradable debris and that goes to landfills. We dewater the solids and develop a ‘sludge cake.’

“Once the sludge is in that state, we’ll add approximately 25 percent of lime, on a dry-weight basis. When we blend that with the sludge, it brings the ph above 12, which kills the pathogens [bacteria, protozoa, enteric viruses and helminth worms]. But it doesn’t take the nutrients away.”

Lang is such a fan of the product that he bought a 258-acre farm in Pleasant Mount, PA where he applies it to grow orchard grass and Christmas trees and wants to incorporate its use into his forestry management plan.

He describes biosolids as a “huge resource” for small farms. “The cost of fertilizer is so high that the small farmer can’t afford to farm if he has to use chemical fertilizers,” said Lang. “We increase their crop yield 50 to 100 percent. Plus, it’s an organic form of nitrogen and phosphorous and helps the soil hold more moisture. I would use it to grow vegetables myself.”

Garvey likes it enough to use in her own garden, and says that since the organic form of nitrogen is not immediately available, it is released more slowly over time, minimizing the potential for runoff.

Rates of application are calculated based on what a farmer is growing, according to Garvey. And she applauds the practice for its reduced carbon footprint. “It’s recycled, it replaces chemical fertilizers and it builds up organic matter in the soil. These are all ways we pull greenhouse gases out of the air, into a more beneficial form,” she said.

Even so, produce grown on sludged land cannot be certified organic. And companies like Heinz, Kraft and DelMonte have chosen to reject crops grown on sludged soils. Why? “They’re just responding to public pressure,” said Lang.

Lang labeled home septic systems as the bigger culprits when it comes to potential contamination. “Forty-five percent of homes in PA are serviced by on-lot septic systems, which discharge approximately 400 gallons of untreated water into the soil every day,” he said. “Any septic system is going to have a much greater impact on water quality than our product is ever going to have.”

According to Lang, odor is the chief complaint associated with biosolids, and one that he tries to minimize, while pointing to what he sees as the alternative. “If a farmer can’t afford to keep his land because he can’t afford the fertilizer, would you rather put up with the odor for a few days or would you rather have a lot of houses around you? Either you develop the property or utilize it for farming.”

The lingering unknowns

Whether it comes from cows, chickens, pigs or humans, all manure has an odor. But increasing concerns about the antibiotics and growth hormones fed to animals are now being extended to human waste products, which contain the residues of countless pharmaceuticals in addition to the largely unidentified substances contained in many household cleaning products.

Currently, no federal law requires manufacturers to list the chemical ingredients of cleaning products, so it’s anyone’s guess as to the constituents of most commonly used cleaners. Of those that are known, independent studies show links to respiratory irritation, asthma, allergies, reproductive system damage and birth defects. Some solvents are also believed to be toxic to the nervous system, while hormone-disrupting chemicals found in detergents, disinfectants, stain removers and floor cleaners can mimic the hormone estrogen.

Little is known of the fate of these compounds following land application. Nor is much known regarding the potential toxicity of breakdown products and their interactions.

In Josh Harkinson’s story, “Sludge Happens,” in Mother Jones magazine, a recent EPA survey of sludge samples from across the United States found nearly universal contamination by 10 flame retardants and 12 pharmaceuticals and exceptionally high levels of endocrine disruptors such as triclosan.

Nor does the federal government require testing of drinking water for the presence of pharmaceuticals, many of which have found their way into the drinking water of 41 million Americans, according to a 2008 Associated Press (AP) investigation.

Pharmaceutical drugs are now present in the water supplies for 24 major metropolitan areas, including New York City, which derives its water from upstate reservoirs partially located within the Upper Delaware region. Tests of those source waters showed trace amounts of heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer.

The quantities, measured in parts per billion or trillion, are well below medical dosage levels. But scientists are increasingly concerned about their presence—and possible interactions and impacts.

“The emerging science is showing us that background levels of exquisitely small exposure can have additive effects, and such drugs can potentiate one another,” said biologist Dr. Sandra Steingraber, a distinguished visiting scholar at Ithaca College. “We don’t know enough about the impacts of long-term low-level exposure to such chemicals.”

Steingraber points out that prior to birth, all mammals are exceptionally vulnerable to chemicals, particularly the hormonal system, which functions at the level of parts per million as bodies are assembled. “Hormones are like the directors of this orchestration of the body,” said Steingraber. “The timing of exposure is something our regulatory system is not taking into account.”

Garvey says most of the microconstituents are removed by the dewatering process, while opponents of biosolids say such material actually concentrates in sewage sludge.

Lang isn’t worried. “Bleaches are no problem. There’s really not a lot of terrible stuff out there anymore. Even with people taking drugs, I’ve never known that to be a problem. There has never been any noticeable degradation to the quality of the wastewater due to the household products that are used, to my knowledge.”

Garvey added, “We are researching the impacts, but biosolids are not the only place that you see these things. You see them in your body; you see them in your household. It’s a matter of where are we going to spend our money, energy and resources in protecting human health and the environment.”

It is this point on which both sides of the biosolids issue may agree. Opponents of biosolids land application point to it as yet another contributor to the cumulative impacts of various sources of contamination to water, air and soils. The question is, at what point does it become hazardous to human health?

A human health hazard?

In Pennsylvania, biosolids are regulated by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). On the federal level, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the use of sludge under its 503 rule. Of the complex mixture of heavy metals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and pathogens present in sewage sludge, the EPA has established numerical limitations for only nine metals to avoid build-up in soils over time.

Health impacts such as digestive disorders, asthma and persistent infections like MRSA have been attributed to land application of biosolids. Two deaths are suspected to be linked to the practice in Pennsylvania. Tony Behun, an 11-year-old boy from Clearfield County, and 17-year-old Daniel Pennock of Robesonia, PA, both succumbed to infections that followed exposure to land-applied Class B sewage sludge. The DEP and the EPA have each denied the connection following their investigations.

Lang agrees with those conclusions. “There are thousands of workers in sewer plants, working with raw sewage every day of their lives and, to date, there’s not one documented case that I know of, of staph infection killing any of those workers. We have raw product coming in here. Everybody likes to blame the sludge, and they’re looking for a catalyst to remove it from society. Well, you can’t.

“This is a wonderful option. You can’t ocean dump it. Why burn it and put the nutrients and other products in the air? And you still have an ash to get rid of. It’s a great resource that needs to be looked at as a resource and this country’s got to stop saying, ‘Not in my backyard.’”

Garvey concurred, adding that the benefits of biosolids land application far outweigh its perceived concerns. “The bigger picture involves a “triple bottom line—what’s good for society, what’s good for the environment and what’s feasible economically,” she said.

EnviroVentures submits to DEP-approved quarterly lab analyses which test for metals, organics, enteric viruses, helminth ova and fecal coliform, according to Lang. Sixteen years worth of test results are available to the public. Lang also welcomes interested parties to tour the facility.

One thing is certain—there is no end to the source material. And there is a potential gold mine available to those positioned to manage the product. According to Harkinson, the Carlyle Group paid $772 million for the sludge-residuals company Synagro.

Lang sees the possibilities. “This time of year, we’re land-applying every day as long as it isn’t raining,” he said. Due to limited storage capacity and tied to restrictions related to the timing of land application, Lang says he is unable to meet local demand for the product. But he has applied for permits to expand his operation.

“I believe in the product. We’ve been doing it since 1994. My father used septage when I was a kid. You didn’t even add lime. You’d just land apply it for your crops. It’s a tremendous resource.”

Visit www.epa.gov/OW-OWM.html/mtb/biosolids and www.depweb.state.pa.us/biosolids/site/default.asp for more information.