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November 14, 2003
Locals protest sludge
By MARK WAITE
The agency scheduled a hearing on an application by the Funeral Mountain Ranch to increase the rate of application of the treated sewage sludge from 100 cubic yards per day to 300 cubic yards, or eight truckloads. The hearing notice stated the division administrator "Has determined that there is sufficient public interest in this draft permit to warrant a public hearing." That turned out to be an understatement as 75 local residents gathered at the Amargosa Valley Community Center. Bruce Holmgren, staff engineer for the division's Bureau of Water Pollution Control, said Nevada has more stringent regulations than the EPA requires for the sludge, which is imported from the Orange County Sanitation District. Among the regulations, the sludge must be tilled into the soil within six hours of delivery, he said. The EPA has rules of its own, Holmgren said, rules some residents said were violated: It must be applied more than three feet from groundwater, more than 100 feet from a road, more than 600 feet from a residence, not be applied to snowy or frozen fields and cannot affect endangered species. "At the Sept. 25, 2003 Amargosa Valley Town Advisory Board meeting Mr. Bill DeWitt, the landowner, admitted that sewage sludge remained on the land overnight on more than one occasion," resident John Bosta claimed. Bosta also said a clause in the permit that there shall be no objectionable odors had been violated. He said trucks have spilled the sludge on their way to the ranch. Shiela Rau said the decision to issue the permit was made without a site visit, which would've revealed not only that the sludge was being applied near Forty Mile Wash, but also on farmland with multiple, unsealed irrigation wells. She alleged the Funeral Mountain Ranch violated a rule banning application within 600 feet of a residence, as the ranch owners allowed people to move into a double wide trailer less than 100 feet from a treated field. Registered Nurse Christie Terraneo said, "Orange County Sanitation Department has had a stormy history dumping sludge. They have been stopped in Arizona and California." She said 14 counties now have ordinances prohibiting land application of sludge, recognizing the pathogens that may be present. "It does not require a large quantity of any pathogen to make us ill. In some cases it can take only one microscopic particle to make an individual sick," Terraneo said. But she added, "A study conducted by the National Academies of Science, National Research Council concluded that there is a serious lack of health related information." Local resident Genne Nelson, a geologist for the Nye County Early Warning Drilling Program, said studies of Yucca Mountain have shown with low rainfall and extremely high evaporation rates, it's likely only a small percentage of precipitation will trickle through the alluvium to reach groundwater. But Nelson said contaminants deposited on one field at Funeral Mountain Ranch could enter the groundwater in about 28 years, based on percolation rates. She said fault zones could increase percolation rates in the valley, adding the exact location of many faults is not known. "I used to get home from work and sit outside and relax. This is no longer possible," said resident Linda Bromell, who said she lived within spitting distance of the ranch. "When you're outside and you're swatting flies off your barbecue, could you feel comfortable about what you're eating?" Pat Pierri talked about bad experiences farmers had with using sludge as fertilizer in Sparta, Mo., Lynden, Wash., and North Clarendon, Vt. She said Sparta dairy farmer Ed Rollers, after he began having problems with cows dying in 1990, conducted scientific tests. "We found lots of heavy metal contaminants," she quoted Rollers as saying. "I had no idea this would raise such a firestorm in the community. We started on this about two years ago," ranch owner Bill DeWitt said in his opening remarks. DeWitt said he originally had a deal with the Ponderosa Dairy to use cow manure for fertilizer, but Ponderosa had enough land to dispose of it on site. He talked about how farming had been a marginal business in Amargosa Valley following a recent rate increase by Valley Electric Association. DeWitt said in two and a half years he could have all eight fields fertilized with the sludge, or if he could apply eight truckloads a day, that could be reduced to a year and nine months. The sludge has already been cooked for more than 20 days at over 100 degrees before delivery, killing contaminants, he said. "We should work on real science and what the truth is and not turn this into a Salem witch hunt," DeWitt said. Chris Marks, with Solid Solutions, said he can think of 35 farmers and their families who have taken larger quantities of the sludge and in seven years hasn't seen any of them get sick. He said his company is applying the sludge in the morning, when there's less chance of airborne odors spreading. Layne Baroldi, legal and regulatory affairs liaison with the Orange County Sanitation District, said the district goes above and beyond federal standards. Baroldi said the effluent of the Orange County Sanitation District sewage plants actually meets drinking water standards. |
