Ontario Site Eyed for Manure Plant Test

ONTARIO SITE EYED FOR MANURE PLANT TEST
September 13, 2002
The London Free Press
Peter Geigen-Miller

A plant that transforms manure into heat, electricity and safe and effective fertilizer shows promise of reducing the impact of mega livestock farms
on the rural environment.

Officials of the Cement Association of Canada held a news conference yesterday to outline the results of an Alberta pilot project that tested the plant's European-developed technology.

Results of the manure project were announced during the Integrated Solutions to Manure Management conference yesterday at the London Convention Centre.

The association and its partners plan a further test project in Ontario and are considering Chatham-Kent or Simcoe County as a potential site.

Lawrence Loh, the association's marketing director, hopes for a commitment to the project sometime next year.

The pilot plant has a capacity of 100,000 tonnes of manure and organic waste a year and can treat agricultural waste water. The process uses composting and anaerobic digestion to convert these raw materials into enough methane gas to meet the heating and electricity needs of 900 Canadian households.

Fate and Significance of Selected Contaminants in Sewage Biosolids

The Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) has completed a report entitled "Fate and Significance of Selected Contaminants in Sewage Biosolids Applied to Agricultural Land Through Literature Review and Consultation with Stakeholder Groups".

The report is available at http://www.weao.org/main/weao_study.html

WEAO initiated the study in late 1999 as part of an ongoing effort to update and improve the agricultural land application of sewage biosolids in Ontario. Specific objectives of the project were:
1.. Review, assess, and summarize information assembled from literature and consultation with credible non-government organizations, farming associations, experts and regulatory agencies (Stakeholders) regarding the fate and significance of contaminants in sewage biosolids after they are applied to agricultural lands.
2.. Use the information to divide specific contaminants in sewage biosolids into two groups. Group I contaminants have whereas Group II contaminants do not have sufficient credible scientific information to assure the public that the current agricultural land application program/ guidelines are adequate to protect the well beings of soils, crops, animals, human health, ground and surface water qualities.
3.. Recommend a long-term study program to complete the information gaps and actions that can mitigate any adverse effects that may be caused by the presence of specific contaminants in sewage biosolids. Also, provide comprehensive Terms of Reference for the top 3 studies identified in the long-term study program.
4.. Disseminate the study findings and recommendations to the Stakeholders and municipalities through report(s) and workshop(s).
Major study conclusions and recommendations are summarized below.

Heavy metals: the current 11 metals being regulated in the biosolids guidelines are deemed to be adequate and are classified as Group I. The other metals silver, antimony, etc are deemed to be Group II, more data collection in biosolids and soil are recommended.

Pathogens: are deemed as Group II. Human health impacts of pathogens in land applied sewage biosolids have been studied by many experts. They all arrived at a similar conclusion that application of biosolids on agricultural land is safe, provided the guidelines are followed. This included a 3-year epidemiological study done by Ohio University which compared the health of the people living on farms that received biosolids to those living on farms that did not receive biosolids. Some public, however, are still skeptical or not convinced of the evidences. Their concerns arise from a variety of incidences: the Walkerton incidence; microbial contamination of tile drainage water following animal manure application; perceived inadequate monitoring and control of biosolids application. The study recommended studies be carried out to define and build consensus on risk assessment and management, and to develop and/or evaluate best management practices to minimize risks.

Trace Organics: which include VOCs, PAHs, pesticides, dioxins and furans, LAS surfactants are deemed to be Group I, due to their low concentrations in biosolids and/ or rapid loss in the soil.

Endocrine Disrupters: Alkylphenol surfactants and their degradation products including 4-nonyl phenol are deemed to be Group I because these contaminants biodegraded rapidly in aerobic soil. Estrogenic hormones are considered as Group II due to lack of data. However, on-going work at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on concentrations and fate of estrogenic hormones in land applied animal manure would be useful to estimate the significance of hormones in sewage biosolids.

Pharmaceuticals: are considered as Group II due to lack of information in biosolids. By nature, most pharmaceuticals are designed to be water-soluble, biodegradable and have short half-lives. The study recommended that analytical methods for measuring pharmaceuticals in biosolids be developed and then to be followed by field surveys.

Radionuclides: are deemed as Group II. Ontario sewer use bylaws prohibited the discharge of radionuclides. Medically used radionuclides that may be discharged with human wastes are short-lived.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus: are deemed to be Group I due to loading limits of 135 kg of plant available nitrogen per hectare per 5 years.

The study was co-sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Canada, City of Windsor, Regional Municipality of Waterloo, City of Hamilton, Regional Municipality of Niagara, Regional Municipality of Halton, City of Toronto, Regional Municipality of Durham, City of Peterborough, City of Ottawa and Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

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Jason Thorne, Coordinator
H2infO - The Water Information Network
590 Jarvis Street, Suite 200
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4Y 2J4
P: (416) 392-1757
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E-mail: input at H2infO.org
Web: www.H2infO.org

Sludge Spread on Farm Fields May Be Health Risk

Sludge spread on farm fields may be health risk: physician
Eric McGuinness, Environment Reporter
The Hamilton Spectator

A Hamilton physician who heads the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society says Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, Toronto and other urban centres should stop
spreading thousands of tonnes of treated human waste on farm fields until the practice is proven safe.

Dr. Coleman Rotstein, an infection specialist with Hamilton Health Sciences and an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University, says: "In light of the Walkerton water tragedy, we have to take all sorts of precautions. We have to be absolutely sure it's safe." Rotstein says the society wants a moratorium on land application of sewage sludge (also called biosolids -- a position bolstered by a new United States National Research Council study which concludes that country's sludge-disposal regulations are based on outdated science.

The U.S. report says, "To assure the public and to protect public health, there is a critical need to update the scientific basis of the rule." Rotstein says the situation in Canada is the same, except Ontario doesn't even have regulations, just guidelines. "I don't think we should do this until we know it is perfectly safe. There should be a moratorium on spreading liquid or semi-solid sludge within 10 kilometres of any populated area."

The concern is that sludge contains toxic chemicals, viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing agents to which people and animals may be exposed. There's fear that harmful substances may be taken up by crops and livestock or be washed into wells, ponds and streams. Ottawa city council recently acted on the association's advice and voted to suspend spreading sludge on area farms, even though landfilling it will cost an estimated $1.5 million a year. Councillor Wendy Stewart was quoted by the Ottawa Sun as saying, "I think we've got to come up with a better solution for the biosolids than using our agricultural community as a toxic waste dump."

Environment Ministry spokesman John Steele says provincial biosolids policies are under review and staff are looking at the U.S. study.

The biggest sludge spreader in Ontario is Hamilton-based Terratec Environmental, a subsidiary of American Water Services, charged last year with applying Toronto sludge too close to homes in the Dufferin County hamlet of Cedarville.

Cedarville resident Glenn Norman, spokesman for Voters Against Sludge, is also calling for a province-wide moratorium and reminding Premier Ernie Eves of a statement videotaped last fall in which the then-candidate for leader said, "Well, I don't believe we should be spreading anything which hasn't been scientifically proven to have no harmful effects at all."

Terratec vice-president Phil Sidhwa dismissed the idea of a moratorium, saying, "The work we do is based on years and years of research and experience."

The U.S. council didn't comment on whether sludge spreading should continue -- it said that wasn't part of its mandate. It did call for a nationwide survey to determine what is now in sludge, studies to prove the regulations really protect against the potential risk, studies "needed to reduce persistent uncertainty about the potential for adverse human health effects," and much tougher enforcement of existing rules.

Hamilton Councillor Dave Mitchell, a farmer who represents an area with many farms, says enforcement is his biggest concern. "Guidelines would be fine if everybody abided by them, but if they're violated, there are no teeth except to slap someone's hand."

Ana Litner, from the Sierra Legal Defence Fund in Toronto, says the Ontario agriculture ministry's new Nutrient Management Act might eventually control sludge use, but there's no indication when regulations will be drafted.

National Research Council (U.S.) Report on Biosolids Applied to Land www.nap.edu/catalog/10426.html?onpi_newsdoc070202 You can contact Eric
McGuinness at emcguinness at hamiltonspectator.com or at 905-526-4650.

Sludge Spread on Farm Fields May Be Health Risk

Sludge spread on farm fields may be health risk: physician
Eric McGuinness, Environment Reporter
The Hamilton Spectator

A Hamilton physician who heads the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society says Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, Toronto and other urban centres should stop
spreading thousands of tonnes of treated human waste on farm fields until the practice is proven safe.

Dr. Coleman Rotstein, an infection specialist with Hamilton Health Sciences and an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University, says: "In light of the Walkerton water tragedy, we have to take all sorts of precautions. We have to be absolutely sure it's safe." Rotstein says the society wants a moratorium on land application of sewage sludge (also called biosolids -- a position bolstered by a new United States National Research Council study which concludes that country's sludge-disposal regulations are based on outdated science.

The U.S. report says, "To assure the public and to protect public health, there is a critical need to update the scientific basis of the rule." Rotstein says the situation in Canada is the same, except Ontario doesn't even have regulations, just guidelines. "I don't think we should do this until we know it is perfectly safe. There should be a moratorium on spreading liquid or semi-solid sludge within 10 kilometres of any populated area."

The concern is that sludge contains toxic chemicals, viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing agents to which people and animals may be exposed. There's fear that harmful substances may be taken up by crops and livestock or be washed into wells, ponds and streams. Ottawa city council recently acted on the association's advice and voted to suspend spreading sludge on area farms, even though landfilling it will cost an estimated $1.5 million a year. Councillor Wendy Stewart was quoted by the Ottawa Sun as saying, "I think we've got to come up with a better solution for the biosolids than using our agricultural community as a toxic waste dump."

Environment Ministry spokesman John Steele says provincial biosolids policies are under review and staff are looking at the U.S. study.

The biggest sludge spreader in Ontario is Hamilton-based Terratec Environmental, a subsidiary of American Water Services, charged last year with applying Toronto sludge too close to homes in the Dufferin County hamlet of Cedarville.

Cedarville resident Glenn Norman, spokesman for Voters Against Sludge, is also calling for a province-wide moratorium and reminding Premier Ernie Eves of a statement videotaped last fall in which the then-candidate for leader said, "Well, I don't believe we should be spreading anything which hasn't been scientifically proven to have no harmful effects at all."

Terratec vice-president Phil Sidhwa dismissed the idea of a moratorium, saying, "The work we do is based on years and years of research and experience."

The U.S. council didn't comment on whether sludge spreading should continue -- it said that wasn't part of its mandate. It did call for a nationwide survey to determine what is now in sludge, studies to prove the regulations really protect against the potential risk, studies "needed to reduce persistent uncertainty about the potential for adverse human health effects," and much tougher enforcement of existing rules.

Hamilton Councillor Dave Mitchell, a farmer who represents an area with many farms, says enforcement is his biggest concern. "Guidelines would be fine if everybody abided by them, but if they're violated, there are no teeth except to slap someone's hand."

Ana Litner, from the Sierra Legal Defence Fund in Toronto, says the Ontario agriculture ministry's new Nutrient Management Act might eventually control sludge use, but there's no indication when regulations will be drafted.

National Research Council (U.S.) Report on Biosolids Applied to Land www.nap.edu/catalog/10426.html?onpi_newsdoc070202 You can contact Eric
McGuinness at emcguinness at hamiltonspectator.com or at 905-526-4650.