Editor, The Times:
Interesting letter from the TNRD (GVRD biosolids reduce Thompson-Nicola Regional District carbon footprint, July 18 issue). It would appear that the TNRD is being paid by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) to accept Vancouver’s sewage sludge.
Again, I repeat - the facts are as follows:
1. “Sewage sludge” is the legal term. The term “biosolids” was coined to increase public acceptance.
2. Returning composted human and animal manure to the land has been an accepted agricultural practice for hundreds of years. But present-day sewage sludge is wicked stuff - not only human biological wastes, but also an accumulation of everything flushed down toilets or poured into the drains of a modern city. Sewage sludge contains toxins. All sewage sludge. Solvents, industrial wastes, various chemicals, expired prescriptions - you name it. And only the biological pathogens are destroyed through heating and composting.
3. The accumulation of sewage sludge has become a problem of gargantuan proportions in the Lower Mainland. Ocean dumping - the previous method of getting rid of the stuff - has now been outlawed.
4. Lower Mainland sludge is now commonly being used throughout B.C. to ‘reclaim’ remote sites after logging and mining. Drive the Merritt-Kelowna Connector some day and have a look at the hundreds of acres of ‘reclaimed’ Brenda Mines site. The resulting lush growth always impresses folks. No matter our wildlife may be accumulating toxins from eating this lush growth.
5. Almost no research has been done on the long term cumulative effects of toxins when sludge is applied to the land. IF the stuff has been tested for chemical contaminants, ‘acceptable levels’ apply only to that batch, and do not consider the cumulative effect.
These toxins do not dissipate. They don’t break down and they don’t disappear. Like the DDT fiasco of a past generation, these toxins will accumulate in soils and in the food chain.
6. This year the TNRD has devised a miraculous way of using sludge to make methane disappear, and boasts about receiving an award for this benevolent practice! (Although they neglected to mention how frequently carbon dioxide is converted BACK to methane, or that both methane and carbon dioxide are ‘greenhouse’ gasses.)
7. The (U.S.) EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed two assessments in 2000 and 2002 of the EPA sewage sludge program. The follow-up report in 2002 documented, “The EPA cannot assure the public that current land application practices are protective of human health and the environment.”
The Capitol Regional District (Victoria) has recently banned land application of sewage sludge. I believe similar regulations exist throughout the province of Newfoundland.
Why is Barriere allowing this?
We do not currently have nearly enough information on the long-term effects of this practice.
The TNRD has worked hard with the help of many dedicated people to make the North Thompson an attractive place to live in so many ways. But they are way off base with this one. We don’t need Vancouver money THAT badly!
Bev Henry
Barriere, B.C.
