Tuesday, March 9, 2010

what to do with sludge?

I enjoyed this resource regarding sludge alternatives from Sludge News:
Prevention -- the cost effective solution -- is the place to start: prevent hazardous waste from entering the sewer in the first place, prevent the exploitation of the myth that wastewater treatment and its associated technologies can fix any problem, and prevent the poisoning of our food supply with sewage sludge.

...Next, initiate a moratorium on the land application of sludge -- because there is no scientific evidence that this practice is safe.

...implement policies that discourage the use of water to carry wastes.

...What to do with the tons of sludge leaving wastewater plants each day?

Don’t put it on food chain crops, ball fields, parks, gardens, or yards. Instead, treat it as the hazardous waste it is. Keep it away from the public - isolate it from life. Put sewage sludge - whether “treated” or not - into lined sanitary landfills with proper leachate collection systems. If it fails the TCLIP test, it should go to a RCRA Subtitle C landfill for hazardous waste. Otherise it should go to a Subtitle D landfill.

Landfills are the only safe interim option we have until we can find other solutions, solutions that do not put sludge into the air (incineration), on our food (land application), or in our water (disposal at the outfall pipe).

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