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Clean Water Report
Copyright 2003 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT 2003 Business
Publishers, Inc.
Monday, July 14, 2003
ISSN: 0009-8620; Volume 41; Issue 14
Water Associations Approve Strategy, But Critic Notices Only Status Quo. (Part 503 Strategy).
Water associations have endorsed EPA's April response to the
National
Research Council's (NRC) 2002 report that recommended what could be done
to strengthen the biosolids program, but a critic contends the agency is
proposing little new.
Last summer, the NRC recommended EPA improve risk-assessment methods
to better establish standards for chemicals and pathogens, and conduct a
new survey of contaminants in sludge (CWR, July 15, p. 131). EPA
responded this April with a strategy in how it would address those
recommendations. The agency invited the public to comment on that
strategy.
Four elements to EPA's strategy will ultimately determine the agency's
ability to address public concerns: focusing on priorities; context and
risk communication; cooperation, collaboration and inclusion; and
responsiveness, according to comments signed by Tim Williams, managing
director of the Water Environment Federation's (WEF) office of
government and public affairs.
EPA's response places a lot of emphasis on pathogens and odors, and
the agency should support research on odors associated with biosolids
processing. It should improve how it communicates risk assessments to
the public so there is no confusion that exposure equals risk. In
working with other agencies, as the strategy emphasizes, it will
optimize resources and improve perceived credibility. And the agency
should continue its initiatives to work with the Centers for Disease
Control to investigate complaints of health effects.
EPA's first priority to update the scientific basis of Part 503 must
be a series of exposure studies "to directly assess potential health
impacts, especially those associated with pathogens," said comments from
the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA), which were
signed by Adam Krantz, managing director of government and public
affairs.
Enhancing communications with the public is the most critical element
for improving understanding and acceptance of the biosolids program. But
the agency must do more than support the National Biosolids
Partnership's Environmental Management System, which requires wastewater
plants to follow strict standards.
Strategy Calls for More of Same
Ellen Harrison of the Cornell Waste Management Institute, a critic of
land application, said the strategy simply endorses the status quo.
The agency's report fails to commit to studies of health at sites
where people have reported illness. It does not take into consideration
limits of machines' capacity to detect, so that when tools do not detect
chemicals the pollutants are thought to not exist. Risk assessments
should include people from the Office of Research and Development,
rather than just those from the Office of Water, to provide new
perspectives. And an independent group should investigate complaints,
not one comprised of government agencies or professional organizations.
That could promote more cooperation with people who have made
complaints.
Contacts: Tim Williams, WEF, (703) 684-2400; Adam Krantz, AMSA, (202)
833-4651; Ellen Harrison, Cornell Waste Management Institute, (607)
255-8576.