# BioSolids...Harmful To Wildlife?



## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

OK fellas heres the scoop. I've hunted the same farm for a few years during spring turkey season. My dad and I keep a close watch on the resident flock of 150-200 birds. These birds live in about a 1 X 2 mile rectangle. But, most of the time the majority hang around the large farm we hunt on.

About a month ago large piles of black "dirt" were being dumped along the lane we drive to the back of the farm on. More and more piles were arriving daily. We drove to the head of the lane one day and there was a no trespassing sign posted by the EPA. The signed warned of the use of BioSolids. If you don't know about biosolids, it is recycled human waste from sewer treatment plants.

Four days before the opening of turkey season these piles were spread on all the field on this farm. Once it rained the whole farm stunk to high heaven. Our turkey season has been a bust. The farm owner did plow most of the so called fertilizer under last weekend. We hunted there yesterday and the stench has dissapated somewhat.

We usually see lots of birds every hunt. This season we have seen 4 in 4 days of hunting. And even on evening scouting trips we have seen not one bird. The birds disappeared as soon as the biosolids were spread. My dad is convinced that the birds ate this crap and either died or were sickened. I thought this was farfetched, but from what I'm seeing I'm beginning to wonder myself.

After reading the following I think I should maybe hunt elsewhere.

Biosolids, also referred to as treated human sewage, is a term used by the waste water industry to denote the byproduct of domestic and commercial sewage and wastewater treatment. These residuals are further treated to reduce but not eliminate pathogens and vector attraction by any of a number of approved methods and then trucked and land appied to a farm field.[38] Low levels of constituents such as PCBs, dioxin, and brominated flame retardants, may remain in treated sludge.[39][40]

Recent conclusion of thorough review of literature and 20-year field study of air, land, and water in Arizona concluded that biosolids use is sustainable and improves the soil and crops.[41] Other studies conclude that plants uptake large quantities of heavy metals and toxic pollutants that are retained by produce, which is then consumed by humans.[42][43][44][45][46][47]

One of the main concerns in the treated sludge is the concentrated metals content; certain metals are regulated while others are not.[48] Leaching methods can be used to reduce the metal content and meet the regulatory limit.[49] The U.S. divides biosolids into two grades: Class B sewage sludge, and Class A treated sewage sludge. Class A sludge has been treated to reduce bacteria prior to application to land; Class B sludge has not.[50]

Depending on their level of treatment and resultant pollutant content, biosolids can be used in regulated applications for non-food agriculture, food agriculture,[50] or distribution for unlimited use. Treated biosolids can be produced in cake, granular, pellet[2] or liquid form and are spread over land before being incorporated into the soil or injected directly into the soil by specialist contractors. It used to be common practice to dump sewage sludge into the ocean, however, this practice has stopped in many nations due to environmental concerns as well to domestic and international laws and treaties. In particular, after the 1991 Congressional ban on ocean dumping, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instituted a policy of digested sludge reuse on agricultural land. The EPA promoted this policy by presenting it as recycling and rechristening sewage sludge as "biosolids", as they are solids produced by biological activities.

A 2004 survey of 48 individuals near affected sites found that most reported irritation symptoms, about half reported an infection within a month of the application, and about a fourth were affected by Staphylococcus aureus, including two deaths. The number of reported S. aureus infections was 25 times as high as in hospitalized patients, a high-risk group. The authors point out that regulations call for protective gear when handling Class B biosolids and that similar protections could be considered for residents in nearby areas given the wind conditions.[51]

Khuder, Milz, Bisesi, Vincent, McNulty, and Czajkowski (as cited by Harrison and McBride of the Cornell Waste Management Institute in Case for Caution Revisited: Health and Environmental Impacts of Application of Sewage Sludges to Agricultural Land) conducted a health survey of persons living in close proximity to Class B sludged land.[52] A sample of 437 people exposed to Class B sludge (living within 1-mile (1.6 km) of sludged land) - and using a control group of 176 people not exposed to sludge (not living within 1-mile (1.6 km) of sludged land) reported the following:

"Results revealed that some reported health-related symptoms were statistically significantly elevated among the exposed residents, including excessive secretion of tears, abdominal bloating, jaundice, skin ulcer, dehydration, weight loss, and general weakness. The frequency of reported occurrence of bronchitis, upper respiratory infection, and giardiasis were also statistically significantly elevated. The findings suggest an increased risk for certain respiratory, gastrointestinal, and other diseases among residents living near farm fields on which the use of biosolids was permitted."

-Khuder, et al., Health Survey of Residents Living near Farm Fields Permitted to Receive Biosolids[52]

Although correlation does not imply causation, such extensive correlations may lead reasonable people to conclude that precaution is necessary in dealing with sludge and sludged farmlands.

Harrison and Oakes suggest that, in particular, "until investigations are carried out that answer these questions (...about the safety of Class B sludge...), land application of Class B sludges should be viewed as a practice that subjects neighbors and workers to substantial risk of disease."[50] They further suggest that even Class A treated sludge may have chemical contaminants (including heavy metals, such as lead) or endotoxins present, and a precautionary approach may be justified on this basis, though the vast majority of incidents reported by Lewis, et al. have been correlated with exposure to Class B untreated sludge and not Class A treated sludge.

A 2005 report by the state of North Carolina concluded that "that a surveillance program of humans living near application sites should be developed to determine if there are adverse health effects in humans and animals as a result of biosolids application."[53]

In 2009 the EPA released the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Study, which reports on the level of metals, chemicals, hormones, and other materials present in a statistical sample of sewage sludges.[54] Some highlights include:

Silver is present to the degree of 20 mg/kg of sludge, on average, a near economically recoverable level, while some sludges of exceptionally high quality have up to 200 milligrams of silver per kilogram of sludge; one outlier demonstrated a silver lode of 800-900 mg per kg of sludge.
Barium is present at the rate of 500 mg/kg, while manganese is present at the rate of 1 g/kg sludge.
High levels of sterols and other hormones have been detected, with averages in the range of up to 1,000,000 µg/kg sludge.
Lead, arsenic, chromium, and cadmium are estimated by the EPA to be present in detectable quantities in 100% of national sewage sludges in the US, while thallium is only estimated to be present in 94.1% of sludges.
Recent studies (2010) have indicated that pharmaceuticals and personal care products, which often adsorb to sludge during wastewater treatment, can persist in agricultural soils following biosolid application.[55] Some of these chemicals, including potential endocrine disruptor Triclosan, can also travel through the soil column and leach into agricultural tile drainage at detectable levels.[55][56] Other studies, however, have shown that these chemicals remain adsorbed to surface soil particles, making them more susceptible to surface erosion than infiltration.[57][58] These studies are also mixed in their findings regarding the persistence of chemicals such as triclosan, triclocarban, and other pharmaceuticals. The impact of this persistence in soils is unknown, but the link to human and land animal health is likely tied to the capacity for plants to absorb and accumulate these chemicals in their consumed tissues. Studies of this kind are in early stages, but evidence of root uptake and translocation to leaves did occur for both triclosan and triclocarban in soybeans.[59] This effect was not present in corn when tested in a different study.[56]

A PhD thesis studying the addition of sludge to neutralize soil acidity concluded that the practice was not recommended if large amounts are used because the sludge produces acids when it oxidizes.[60]

Sounds like the Ohio EPA ought to rethink things.


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

I wonder if that is why alot of the fish in our lakes (that are close to agricultural land) have mercury in them??


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Hortontoter, If i recall correctly the Ohio dept. of environmental quality and the EPA, mandate that bio-solids need to be introduced INTO the soil within a specified time period. You may want to contact them to inquire what that period is and see if the rules were followed.


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## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

The large piles didn't set around very long. And the fields were plowed shortly after the material was spread.

I'm just very leery about being around this stuff. And the thought of eating a turkey that may have injested it really bothers me.

I just talked with my dad and we will be hunting elswhere for the remainder of the season.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Good idea! No one wants a turkey that tastes like crap !


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

prairiewolf said:


> I wonder if that is why alot of the fish in our lakes (that are close to agricultural land) have mercury in them??


it could be Ed, I think most of it is from mining in the 1800's, they used mercury to recover gold, and they were not careful with it back then...


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

I know Eric, but most of the lakes have just reported this in the last 15 yrs or so. Yhe first I heard of it was at Painted Rock about 20 yrs ago.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

I don't eat the fish here because of that, all of the lakes are filled with run-off, and the soil here doesn't absorb much...


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

it's just a matter of time before we pollute the entire earth and we all die...


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Don & Ed, did you see the Bear in East Mesa on the news this morning? I think he was hungry for some Mexican...lol...


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

No, I didnt


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Fish and Game got him near Brown & Meridian...it was on Fox10...


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)




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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

Dang-Hortontoter!!! That sounds like a crappy deal to me!!! :roflmao: ( Sorry--couldn't resist)

Good luck w/ the rest of your season!


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## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

I find it disturbing to say the least. Only thing I can't figure is that the deer, groundhogs and other critters are still around. But, I truely think this stuff has made the turkeys move away or worse.


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## olsonfia (Mar 12, 2013)

The turkeys may have just moved to the fields that weren't farmed yet. I can see why people use livestock manure for fertilizing their fields but not human waste that don't seem right to me. If it worked so great everyone would b doing it cuz its plentiful. Seems pretty nasty to me to grow crops with human waste.


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## jswift (Dec 24, 2012)

Interesting reading- sounds like there will be residual contamination for quite a while.

Similar things downstream from wastewater treatment plants across the country- agreed that we are probably our own worst enemy.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

The listeria out break from Colorado cantaloupe a couple years ago had fields across the road from the cantaloupes spread with boisolids a year or two before the outbreak. That got swetped under the rug and the farmer ended up filing for bankruptcy. There were a lot of unanswered questions on that.


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## Jonbnks (Jan 21, 2012)

I used to hunt a farm like this that had tons of turkeys on it. We noticed that ever time the farmer does work on the fields or the neighborhood kids ride their 4 wheelers around the property, the turkeys disappear for at least a week or two. If the fields had really been tilled in, there might not be much for the turkeys to eat.


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Yikes! Interesting stuff Dick. I am curious to see how this goes in the long run. If you do end up going back eventually please update.


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## fr3db3ar (Aug 6, 2011)

I believe that typically, items grown on fields using human waste can only be fed to animals. There should not be any market items grown there.

As for the turkeys I'm sure they'll be back. Good luck.


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## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

You are correct. Any fields that would raise food for human consumption is off limits.

I hunted a different spot this morning. The fragrant scent of apple and pear blossoms sure beat what I had been smelling while chasing gobblers. Same result though, no birds. But, sure was a pleasant morning.


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## olsonfia (Mar 12, 2013)

I read through the info you posted about the biosolids again and it refers to the stuff as SLUDGE over and over. Who would want to put something called sludge on their land? Some people just care about the $$$


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## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

I'm assuming this is most likely free to the landowner. I say that because the water treatment plants have to dispose of it somewhere. I guess the farmer considered it low cost fertilizer, which is the intended purpose.


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