Latest Sludge Stories

By Bill Sobey More than 250 Westcountry farms are using treated human waste as crop fertiliser, according to figures released by South West Water. The method has gained popularity because the animal-based variety is closely linked to the rising price of oil. South West Water treats the sewage sludge to produce a fertiliser and soil conditioner called biosolids, offered free to farmers. The company says that its biosolids are used on 6,638 individual fields in the region. A South West...

By MARY JO LAYTON, STAFF WRITER Two-and-a-half years after they filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Ford Motor Co., Upper Ringwood residents are steeling themselves for a long battle one that some believe they won't survive. "I'll be dead before I get any money," said Mickey Van Dunk, 37. He's had 17 surgeries to treat a rare autoimmune disorder that's left his face heavily scarred. Van Dunk and his neighbors many of them members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe blame...

By MARY JO LAYTON, STAFF WRITER New tests reveal elevated levels of arsenic up to six times the safety standard at the Upper Ringwood Superfund site, a finding that has renewed debate over just how toxic the area is despite five federally supervised cleanups. Arsenic can cause lung cancer and skin disorders, the kinds of illnesses residents have been complaining about for years. Jon Holt, a spokesman for the Ford Motor Co., which is responsible for cleaning up the site, said the...

By Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Jul. 23--Lime sludge from a Columbus water-treatment plant burst from a corroded pipeline and left a large, gray stain on the Olentangy River yesterday. The city uses lime to help remove dirt and aluminum sulfate from water so that it is safe to drink. Leaked sludge can irritate people's skin, choke off life on stream bottoms and make it difficult for bottom-feeding fish to find food. Yesterday's leak is the third from a city waste pipeline...

By Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Jul. 22--Lime sludge from a Columbus water-treatment plant burst from a corroded pipeline and left a large, gray stain on the Olentangy River today. The city uses lime to help remove dirt and aluminum sulfate from water so that it is safe to drink. Leaked sludge can irritate people's skin, choke off life on stream bottoms and make it difficult for bottom-feeding fish to find food. Today's leak is the third from a city waste pipeline since June...

By Ken Byron, The Hartford Courant, Conn. Jul. 18--SOUTHINGTON -- Cleaning up the remnants of contaminated sludge at the town's sewage treatment plant will cost nearly $1 million, in addition to the $14.5 million the town is already spending for an expansion to the plant. That estimate came from town staff, and the process of paying for the cleanup, which has already started, begins next week when the board of finance considers a request of $995,000 for the work. That cost estimate...

CONTRACTORS at Scotland's only refinery who caused an oil slick that ran for almost 10 miles up an "internationally important" ecological site were fined GBP3000 yesterday. Ondeo Industrial Solutions UK Ltd, which operates a waste water treatment plant at the Grangemouth oil refinery, could have faced a fine of up to GBP40,000 under environmental legislation. Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Ondeo was carrying out maintenance work on a tank and pipes n July last year when heavy rainfall...

An Atlanta company is building a facility in California that turns human waste into fuel that can run small power plants. EnerTech Environmental Inc. says by the end of this year its plant east of Los Angeles will be ready to convert hundreds of tons of sewage sludge from local sanitation districts into a pellet-like substance dubbed "e-fuel, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. The poop-to-power process is getting accolades from local officials and investors who say it could...

For about 20 years, Dr. Michael Klag has used a fertilizer made from Milwaukee municipal sludge on azaleas and yew shrubs at his suburban Baltimore home. And Klag, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says he never has had any question about its safety. But in the past few weeks, he has found himself reassuring the public about a similar product, a compost made with treated municipal sewage sludge in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins researchers spread it on nine yards in poor, black...

MU engineer concerned about environmental impact of silver nanoparticles in wastewater treatmentToo much of a good thing could be harmful to the environment. For years, scientists have known about silver's ability to kill harmful bacteria and, recently, have used this knowledge to create consumer products containing silver nanoparticles. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that silver nanoparticles also may destroy benign bacteria that are used to remove ammonia from wastewater...