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Waste News
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Monday, October 27, 2003
Volume 9 Publication number: 14
Land-Applying Biosolids Safe, EPA Says
Joe Truini Washington --
The federal government has made a final decision not to regulate dioxin in
land-applied sewage sludge. After five years of study, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency concluded Oct. 17 that dioxin from biosolids does not pose a
significant risk to human health or the environment. It will instead encourage
proper biosolids handling and management.
"This final rule reaffirms that sound science remains the bedrock on which solid
environmental policy is made," said Ken Kirk, executive director of the
Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies in Washington.
The EPA evaluated farmers and their families who apply sewage sludge to their
land as a fertilizer for crops and animal feed and who consume a high percentage
of their agricultural products.
The agency's analysis shows that 0.003 new cases of cancer could be expected per
year and 0.22 new cases of cancer over 70 years in that theoretical population.
The risk to people in the general population is even smaller, the EPA concluded.
"The science behind EPA's decision is compelling," Kirk said.
Dioxin causes cancer and other health issues in animals, and there is strong
evidence that humans are susceptible to the same effects.
It also can cause diabetes as well as nervous system and hormonal problems, said
Nancy Stoner, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Clean Water
Project. "The EPA is required by law to protect the public from toxic pollutants
like dioxins," she said. "This decision shows the agency under this
administration has forgotten its mission."
The NRDC recommends the EPA prohibit sludge application on land used for pasture
for livestock that humans will consume and at sites where dioxin levels in the
soil are one part per trillion. It also is calling for the agency to set a
dioxin limit at a 1-in-1-million cancer risk to protect public health and
require pollution prevention programs for biosolids with detectable amounts of
dioxin.
"The EPA itself has said that the noncancer risks of dioxins are so high that it
can't even calculate a safe or acceptable level of exposure," Stoner said. "To
us, that says EPA should keep dioxins out of our food, and that means, among
other things, regulating sewage sludge."
The Clean Water Act requires the EPA to promulgate regulations to identify the
use for biosolids, including disposal. The agency also must mandate management
practices and numerical limitations for toxic pollutants in sewage sludge.
The EPA plans to release a final response to a July 2002 report by the National
Research Council on the land application of biosolids. The response, due in
January, will include findings regarding additional pollutants in biosolids that
may require regulation.
The response will produce further evidence to reassure the public that land-
applying biosolids is safe, Kirk said.
Contact Waste News reporter Joe Truini at (330) 865-6166 or jtruini@crain.com