Rites of spring

The sludge question

Farming is a tough business. The real high rollers in this country aren’t in Vegas—they’re in barns an fields across America. Each year they literally “bet the farm” hoping that the year’s profit exceeds expenses by enough so that they can come back and do it all over again during the next growing season.

High oil prices have driven fertilizer prices through the roof. Some farmers spread biosolids, the processed end product of sewage treatment plants, on their fields and pastures.

Farmers get the stuff at little or no cost from companies paid to dispose of the residue. Use of biosolids can mean the difference between fiscal survival and disaster for farmers.

The practice has supporters and detractors.

Biosolids distributors such as Nutriblend, which delivers the stuff to farmers in Goochland, contend that its product is an environmentally safe and beneficial soil amendment. The Nutriblend website www.nutri-blend.com extols the virtues of using its product to enrich farmland while disposing of the end product of sewers and septic tanks. Soil bacteria, one of God’s many miracles, is capable of digesting and rendering harmless some pretty nasty stuff. For that bacteria to do its job, however, biosolids must be incorporated into the soil, not just slathered over the surface so it can move wherever rainwater takes it.

Detractors contend that, in addition to the possibility of bacterial contamination, biosolids contain heavy metals, synthetic hormones, pharmaceutical residue and other substances not good for children and other living things.

The Cornell Waste Management Institute website (cwmi.css.cornell.edu) provides detailed information about the contents of sewage sludge.

Recently, some residents noticed that biosolids were being applied on sloping land south of Rt. 6 west of Georges Tavern when the county was expecting heavy rain.

They contacted county administration requesting that application be halted until Hugh Hardwicke, the county’s biosolids monitor, could ensure that all pertinent regulations were being observed and the biosolids were not washing into the James River. Eventually, the matter was referred to the health department and application continues.

A few years ago, an Amelia County ordinance banning biosolids application was declared invalid by the courts. The ruling stated that while biosolids could not be prohibited, their application could be regulated.

Regulations included in pertinent Goochland County ordinances are pretty specific but may not have been updated to follow changes in state law.

Even so, the existing laws give a good picture of what is permitted. (The ordinance can be seen in its entirety on the county website www.co.goochland.va.us.)

County rules for application of biosolids seem straightforward. The question is, were the rules followed? Did anyone bother to check?

A very troubling aspect of biosolids use in Goochland is that the chairman of the board of supervisors and former county administrator are believed to be among those who apply sludge to their fields and pastures. There is nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately, this gives credence to allegations that biosolids application rules are being ignored.

Use of biosolids is one of those sensitive areas where government must find a delicate balance between the property rights of landowners and protecting the health, safety and welfare of citizens.

There are just too many allegations of improper biosolids applications for comfort. Reports of pond ecosystems being destroyed by biosolids runoff from adjoining parcels of land are very disturbing.

Although the Nutriblend website indicates that the biosolids are highly processed, citizens report seeing what resembled used toilet tissue, massive clouds of flies and a suffocating stink following applications of sludge.

It’s one thing to use biosolids on your own land, quite another to allow their residue to slosh onto someone else’s land. That’s just plain disgusting.

Although permits must be obtained well in advance of biosolids applications, it is nearly impossible for county residents to learn when and where the substance will be applied. Often, the only notice citizens receive of biosolids application is from their noses after the fact.

There is also a universal disconnect between the use of biosolids and all of the environmental whacko clean water hullabaloo.

A few months ago, the county presented a new water quality protection ordinance to the planning commission that would require landowners to leave buffers of at least 100 feet around all ponds and streams. The premise is that the vegetation would filter runoff trapping harmful substances that could pollute the water. So any landowner, including those upstream from the fouled water flowing under the closed landfill at Hidden Rock Park, who dared to cut the grass too close to a pond or stream would be in violation.

That ordinance reverted to county staff for revision.

Yet, the county seems, at best, lackadaisical about enforcing its own biosolids application rules.

This is not just a problem for Goochland.

Remember those cute television spots that asked people not to fertilize their lawns in spring to protect the fragile crab population of the Chesapeake Bay? The federal Environmental Protection Agency produced them.

If lawn fertilizer is bad, biosolids, which have a much higher concentration of nutrients, are probably more of a threat.

Yet, searches of websites of several clean water organizations yield zero results for the term biosolids. It could be that those groups believe that, because biosolids application is supposedly carefully regulated and monitored, it is outside their scope of operations.

Last week’s James River clean-up got lots of media attention. Pulling old tires and other junk out of the water is a great photo op. There was no mention of the invisible water pollutants. City folk probably dismiss the whole notion of sludge on farmland, if they ever give it any thought, as not being their problem.

In this part of the world, a significant portion of drinking water comes out of the James River. Hefty doses of chlorine kill the bacteria. The other stuff, however, could come right through the tap.


Regardless of applicable laws, there is no reason that the county cannot list of biosolids application permits on its website giving the location and approximate schedule. Those with health issues that make them especially sensitive to biosolids applications could check and make sure that they keep their windows closed and avoid the areas during time of applications.

There is common law and common decency. Those who spread sludge should do so responsibly and be held accountable for their actions if they do not.

The stuff has to go somewhere and it is naïve to expect a country awash in red ink to implement a program to incinerate sewage sludge any time soon.

In the meantime, it is imperative that the county not only trust that its farmers are using biosolids in a responsible manner, but verify compliance with all applicable laws.