Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 214
Tuesday, November 5, 2002 Page A-4
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Water Pollution
Management of Biosolids Should Be Covered
By Water Act Rules Pending EPA Action Plan
Treated sewage sludge should continue to be managed according to Clean Water
Act requirements while a plan for additional research is developed,
Environmental Protection Agency officials said in an Oct. 31 letter to regional
offices.
The agency plans to propose a plan of action by April 2003 regarding the use and
management of biosolids, the term used for treated sewage sludge, in response to
a National Research Council report issued in July (128 DEN A-10, 7/3/02 ).
The report said EPA needs to conduct additional research on the land application
of biosolids because data and methods used to establish the federal rules that
regulate land-applied sewage sludge are more than a decade old.
In a letter to the agency's 10 regional administrators, Tracy Mehan, the EPA
assistant administrator for water, and Paul Gilman, EPA assistant administrator
for research and development, also supported the use of environmental management
systems for managing biosolids. Mehan and Gilman said they agreed with the need
for more research but urged that "biosolids continue to be managed in full
compliance with the Part 503 rule."
EPA also plans to publish a final action plan in January 2004 in response to the
research council report, the letter said.
Local governments should choose whether biosolids are applied to agricultural
land as fertilizer, sent to landfills, or incinerated, the letter said. About 60
percent of the biosolids generated nationwide are land-applied according to
information from the National Biosolids Partnership, an alliance formed in 1997
among EPA, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, and Water
Environment Federation to advance environmentally sound and accepted biosolids
management practices. Another 20 percent is incinerated, and 17 percent is sent
to landfills for disposal.
Some public health and environmental advocates oppose the land application of
biosolids until more study has been done on potential adverse impacts.
However, Mehan and Gilman said the "overarching findings of the report concluded
that there is no documented scientific evidence that the Part 503 rule has
failed to protect public health."
The letter supported activities of the National Biosolids Partnership to develop
voluntary environmental management systems for biosolids.
"Wastewater treatment works with EMS's actively involve the public in setting
EMS goals and will undergo independent third party audits of their programs
after they become established," the letter said. "While adoption of EMS programs
is not a substitute for oversight and enforcement, it improves biosolids
management practices, including the control of odors."
State or federal regulators should review biosolids management processes during
their normal inspections of wastewater treatment plants, the letter said.
By Susan Bruninga