Sludge News
The "land application" of sewage sludge has been promoted by EPA since 1993 as the preferred method of sludge disposal. Millions of tons of hazardous sewage sludge have subsequently been spread on farmland and parks in the United States, and many people living near sludged agricultural sites and many farm animals fed on sludged silage and hay have been made very sick. Many of these people have attempted to stop this practice. Now, they are getting some help.
On February 25, 2008, Judge Anthony Alaimo of the 11th Circuit Court ruled that the sludge applications on a farm in Georgia were responsible for killing hundreds of diary cattle and contaminating the milk supplies in several states.
Then an April 14, 2008, the A.P. filed a story about federally funded research (EPA and USDA) that supported the spreading of sludge on yards in poor, black neighborhoods in Baltimore to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. The Alaimo decision and the Baltimore story alerted the public to the real dangers of sludge disposal on land and the EPA's failed policy that supports the practice. The U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee responded by announcing hearings on sludge.
But on September 11, 2008, the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee postponed its hearing on sewage sludge disposal practices and related health and environmental consequences after a legal matter concerning two witnesses was brought to their attention at the eleventh hour.
We have a new administration that is committed to protecting health and the environment. Those of us with the same commitment will continue to press for a long overdue examination of the policies that have led us to the appalling systematic contamination of our food supply and the degradation of our health from this byproduct of wastewater treatment.
You can find more information about sewage sludge and what sludge victims are saying, at Sludge News. Read on.