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Sludge Ban For Delta?
Sewage sludge isn't likely to produce an enthusiastic response from common folk, whatever its demonstrated value as a farm fertilizer. The negative public perception is just one of many factors - including the state of sludge science and existing laws governing its use - that is influencing debate over a new regulation proposed by the Delta Protection Commission. The regulation would preclude construction of new sewage treatment facilities and the placement of sewage effluent or sludge on 500,000 acres in the heart of the Delta.
The way the 19-member Commission sees it, the Delta's primary zone is so unique in terms of its biological, agricultural and drinking water riches and their susceptibility to flooding due to land subsidence below sea level, potential levee failures, poor drainage and the closeness of groundwater to the surface - that sewage facilities and byproducts shouldn't be allowed there. The theory is that any flooding might release heavy metals, salts, bacteria, pathogens and other undesirables into the zone.
"Our commissioners all agree with the concept of putting sewage sludge to good use on the right site, but not in the Delta's primary zone," says the Commission's Margit Aramburu.
"If it's done right it can help agriculture but if it's not it can kill us," says David Guy of the California Farm Bureau, which supports the Commission's stand. "One wrong move could affect the water quality of the entire state."
But the sludge industry thinks existing EPA and Central Valley Regional Board regulations already more than adequately protect water quality and sensitive areas of the Delta. According to Bio Grow's Linda Novick, current regs limit how, where and under what conditions her company can spread "bio-solids" on farmland. "We don't think this is a good policy precedent," says Novick. "It's a policy based on public perception not science. And it takes useful fertilization options away from Delta farmers."
Aramburu is quick to argue, however, that the Delta is unique enough that state and federal regs don't fully cover it. The current Central Valley Board regs take the form of a general order that doesn't provide for site specific public review and allows industry to monitor itself. As this issue went to press, State Water Board staff were recommending that this general order be remanded back to its Central Valley arm for full EIR review. Aramburu says such a review could answer a lot of the remaining scientific questions about sludge impacts but that it will take money the regional board doesn't have. In the meantime, she's confident her commission will err on the side of caution and public perception.
"This issue isn't going to go away and it isn't just about the Delta," she says. "It's about finding the best use for a material and deciding on public goals concerning what some people see as a waste and a threat and others as a resource."
Contact: Margit Aramburu (916)776-2290 or Linda Novick (714)476-4080
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