MidAtlantic Biosolids Association

Biosolids NewsClips - March 5, 2025

This NewsClips contains quite a number of updates from across the biosolids and wastewater industries. This month’s edition follows last month's big news, the EPA draft Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS.  As expected it has quite a bit of PFAS articles but also positive news from ongoing research to updates on boisolds projects from not just the MABA region but nationally as well as around the world. 
 
News of particular note include the biosolids moratorium in Albany County, NY, opinions on both the potential risks and advantages of biosolid land application, and disappointing national news with the withdrawal of EPA limits on PFAS effluent limits on industry.  Additionally, there are many national articles about ongoing and potential new biosolids projects, PFAS concerns in various locations as well as a number relating to biosolids odors.

As always, MABA is committed to keeping members informed and engaged. If you have biosolids news to share or would like to join the Communications Committee, please contact Mary Baker at 845-901-7905 or [email protected].

Biosolids News 
(as of March 3, 2025)
 
MABA Region
 
Albany County puts moratorium on farms' use of biosolids
Albany County, NY (30 Jan 2025) - Albany County has enacted a 90-day pause on the use of human biosolids in agriculture. Announcing the moratorium Monday, County Executive Dan McCoy says it’s meant to give local officials time to study potential health effects and prevent damaging the county’s farmland. “We're talking about human waste from bathrooms and kitchens that is later used as fertilizers on our farms. It's a nutrient-rich option. However, it poses the risk of severe health concerns due to contaminations inside them,” McCoy said.
County’s moratorium for sewer sludge on farms joins others questioning state’s recycling
New Scotland supervisor raises concerns over biosolid use, calls for stronger regulations
Bethlehem leaders worry about biosolids threat to reservoir
 
Guest Idea: Rethinking Wastewater as a Valuable Biosolids
Washington, DC (6 Feb 2025) - Declining farm yields, soils stripped of nutrients, rising energy and fertilizer costs, dwindling carbon stores in soils, increasing droughts. What if part of the solution to these problems were just a flush away? Biosolids are a nutrient-rich residual of wastewater treatment, a process designed to keep carbon and nutrients from upsetting the delicate balance in America’s waterways.  However, carbon is energy and nutrients are fertilizer; recovery of these resources can reduce utilities’ environmental and economic costs. With sustainable solutions for waste management and agricultural productivity needed now more than ever, biosolids offer a myriad of environmental and economic benefits.
 
Plan to spread biosolids on Plainfield Township farm to go before state Environmental Hearing Board
Plainfield Township, PA (3 Feb 2025) - Almost four years ago, Millie Beahn was running around in the rain, going door-to-door to try to spread a warning about sludge. Over the past several years, there’s been a land battle in the township over how the former Hower Farm property, 6249 Hower Road, could be used. It pits Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority and the state Department of Environmental Protection against the township as well as environmental advocacy groups, like Save Plainfield Township, co-founded by Beahn, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
 
EPA investigates Warren County PFAS hot spot
Washington Township, NJ (3 Feb 2025) - Dozens of households in Washington Township, Warren County, are now being supplied with bottled water and hundreds of others are being asked to have their wells tested for possible contamination, part of an emergency federal response to widespread pollution in private wells. Authorities are still trying to get a handle on the scope of the problem, acknowledging that the groundwater pollution may be spread beyond where they are currently looking. This pollution may be impacting the nearby Musconetcong River and may even have made its way into crops and livestock raised on the affected land.
 
Middletown's wastewater plant — the town’s most expensive project — nears completion
Middletown, VA (4 Feb 2025) - Middletown’s roughly $8 million wastewater treatment plant is nearing completion, with most major equipment already online and operational, town staff reported at Monday evening’s Town Council work session. LCW Construction of Winchester, the project’s contractor, is projected to be finished and off site by Feb. 28, according to Town Manager Les Morefield. He said he expects to receive a permit from the state that will allow the facility to be fully operational in early March. Once that happens, the town’s most expensive construction project to date — which began with a groundbreaking almost three years ago — will be finished.
 
Beware of Biosolids: Lack of Testing for Forever Chemicals Heightens Risk [Opinion]
Lancaster, PA (7 Feb 2025) - No one cares more about the soil than a farmer. Everything we apply to our fields is monitored, scrutinized and studied. We time our manure applications and rates to maximize the uptake of nutrients into the crops. Fertilizer blends and rates are customized to every field and based on soil tests.Lime, spray materials and anything else that is applied to fields is done so with every last detail in mind. Simply put, we want to know exactly what we’re putting on our fields and, ultimately, into our crops. But there is one troubling exception. Sewage sludge. Some call it biosolids because it sounds better, but it’s all the same. And it carries a big risk.
Should land-applied biosolids be more regulated?
 
Gianna Kolencik and John Stolz: ALCOSAN can make money on sewage and help the environment too
Pittsburgh, PA (11 Feb 2025) - ALCOSAN, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, is spending over $2 billion for their Clean Water Plan to address the combined sewage and storm water overflow. This project is aimed to reduce wastewater overflows into the rivers by expanding treatment capacity, building a regional tunnel system and implementing green infrastructure. There is another, practical technology that could help reduce the costs. A biodigester facility could turn the large volume of sewage sludge ALCOSAN produces into renewable energy and nutrient rich fertilizer, both of which can be sold.
 
The Withdrawal of PFAS Effluent Limits: Implications for Federal Environmental Regulation and Biosolids Management
Washington, DC (12 Feb 2025) - The regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) remains a critical issue in US environmental policy, with significant implications for water quality, biosolids management and state-level regulatory authority. On January 21, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withdrew the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule on Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) and Standards for PFAS manufacturers. This decision was part of a broader regulatory freeze mandated by an Executive Order from President Donald Trump. It is unclear at this time whether the withdrawal of the ELG rule represents a delay in implementation simply to provide the new administration time to review the proposed rule, or whether it represents the death knell for the rule, as the Trump administration seeks to deregulate.’
EPA Guidance on PFAS in Biosolids
 
Connellsville Municipal Authority to bid out sludge removal
Connellsville, PA (13 Feb 2025) - Connellsville Municipal Authority will be looking to bid out the sludge removal contract sometime soon. This week, the authority noticed in the budget that the line-item for sludge removal was over $12,000 in January alone. Last year’s total budget for sludge removal was $75,000 and that number was increased in this year’s budget to $100,000. Plant Superintendent Raleigh Gelosh said the cost is typically higher in the winter months, but added that after the upgrades at the plant, they are seeing an increase in sludge.
 
Right goal, wrong direction (Viewpoint)
Easton, MD (28 Feb 2025) - In the final days of the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft report assessing the risk of biosolids – that’s the term for a fertilizer recycled from our wastewater — as it pertains to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly known as “forever chemicals.” This group of 3,000-plus manmade chemicals permeate virtually every aspect of our lives: they are in cookware, food packaging, carpets, cleaning products, and cosmetics, to name a few. The authors used the extremely low-end numbers of 1 part per billion of perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, to model the hypothetical risks of PFAS to a family using biosolids on their farm. 
 
You could be spreading ‘forever chemicals’ on your garden. Here’s how to protect yourself.
Philadelphia, PA (2 Mar 2025) - Your plants might love fertilizers containing nutrient-rich sewage sludge, but treating your garden or lawn with these products could be exposing you to “forever chemicals.” Some commercially available products are made from biosolids, an industry term for sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants that are used as fertilizer. The Environmental Protection Agency recently warned that sludge could contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, posing health risks to farmers, livestock and the environment.
 
Nationally
 
Brunswick residents concerned about plan to expand sludge digester
Brunswick, ME (28 Jan 2025) - There’s a new environmentally charged uproar in Brunswick, and potentially toxic wastewater sludge is right at the center of it. It’s what led to a packed house at Monday night’s town council workshop. There’s a new proposal on the table to update and expand an existing sludge digester in town, and it has some people doing everything they can to spread the word.
Biosolids plant raises concerns in post-PFAS spill Brunswick
 
Advocates urge action as samples find PFAS contamination in Tennessee
Chattanooga, TN (29 Jan 2025) - PFAS can also enter the environment via "biosolids," a type of treated waste that is often placed on farm land or forests to fertilize crops and other plants. "Biosolids are essentially sewage sludge," Firth said. "The term biosolids is just a nice name that they came up with because sludge sounds bad." EPA is in the process of testing drinking water systems across the country, Firth said. Based on federal data, the Chattanooga area doesn't seem to have high enough levels of PFAS to require treatment, Firth said, although water systems closer to Cleveland, Tennessee, may exceed standards. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is also assessing source water, Firth said.
 
Critics raise stink over sewage-sludge fertilizer
St. Clair County, AL (31 Jan 2025) - The source of the stench is biosolids: organic, nutrient-rich fertilizer created from waste products like sewage sludge. In Alabama and elsewhere, the product is marketed and sold as a cheap and natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. It's largely unregulated, and a growing body of science suggests chemicals in biosolids may present hazards to human health. Biosolid fertilizer can contain forever chemicals, heavy metals and medicines, according to Derrick Heckman, a conservationist with a background in forestry who lives in the area.
 
King County refines wastewater into fertilizer for WA crops, forests
Renton, CA (2 Feb 2025) - You wouldn’t expect something that began in your toilet to sparkle. That’s the struvite, or phosphate minerals from the digestive tract of thousands of people across the Seattle metropolitan area, catching the light just so as an auger churns the mixture at King County’s wastewater treatment plant in Renton. “Like little diamonds,” said Erika Kinno, the county’s policy and research supervisor. Those little diamonds, alongside a slew of other nutrients, are precisely what make the human waste — processed at facilities like this — such a valuable commodity for forests and farms across the state, local officials say.
 
Kalamazoo city commission to vote on $12.4 million plan to get rid of bio-solid waste
Kalamazoo, MI (3 Feb 2025) - It’s a big, smelly, wet mess and the city of Kalamazoo is searching for a new, more affordable way to get rid of it. It’s the bio-solid waste that comes out of the city’s Regional Wastewater Treatment plant. Utilities director Jim Baker says the cost of trucking the sludge to landfills has nearly quadrupled in recent years. “In 2019 we were dealing with biosolid disposal costs of around $4 million per year, those costs are now up to around $15 million per year,” Baker says.
Kalamazoo approves $12.3M deal for sustainable biosolids management technology
 
West Tenn. officials decry ‘foul stench’ from wastewater ‘fertilizer,’ demand stricter regulation
Brownsville, TN (4 Feb 2025) - On stretches of rolling West Tennessee farmland, the stench is putrid and stifling. Residents of Haywood, Tipton and Lauderdale counties describe a rancid liquid that has muddied town roads, caused a restaurant to close after a spill, attracted hundreds of vultures, sent houseguests packing and led at least one family to consider leaving their home. “This is the foulest stench you could be around,” said Maurice Gaines, Jr , the mayor of Lauderdale County, located about 60 miles northwest of Memphis. “The only thing that may be just as bad is a dead horse. And if you’ve ever been around livestock, and you’ve had one that’s laid up for a few days, it’ll take your breath.”
 
Federal funding for North End Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade has zoning change strings attached
Winnipeg, CA (3 Feb 2025) - The federal government says the City of Winnipeg must complete a major zoning change in order to secure $150 million from Ottawa for upgrades to the North End Sewage Treatment Plant. The zoning change would allow four housing units to be built on a single residential lot “as-of-right.” The as-of-right entitlement allows a property owner to use or develop it without a public hearing or a vote of municipal council – both of which take time – as long as the zoning bylaws permit the proposed use. The city says the change will enable more homes to get built in Winnipeg.
 
City Council approves $35K change order for wastewater plant improvements
Casper, WY (4 Feb 2025) - On Tuesday, the Casper City Council unanimously approved a change order of roughly $35,000 for improvements at the Sam H. Hobbs Wastewater Treatment Plant. The ongoing project includes replacements in the primary sludge pump station building, headworks building, secondary treatment gallery, chlorine treatment building, boiler and electrical room and thickened sludge pump station. The project also entails several architectural and mechanical improvements.
 
Protecting Local Farmland: Wilson bill tackles "forever chemicals"
Lewis County, WA (4 Feb 2025) - In the past couple of years, Legislative Senator Jeff Wilson has been working hard on regulating PFAS. PFAS are Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalky Substance and have been in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s. They are a group of man-made chemicals that are resistant to heat, oil, and water. They have various uses and are considered forever chemicals as they never go away, many are spread in fields around us. Senator Wilson wants to make sure that PFAS are tested properly in every municipality and transported correctly. His bill will do just that.
 
Why has it been so smelly in Cutler Bay? Miami-Dade’s sewage problems, explained
Miami, FL (7 Feb 2025) - When the trucks don’t arrive in time at a sewage plant near Cutler Bay, the smell from 350 tons of tarry black muck leftover from the daily processing of human waste can spread. This is not news to Andrew Scruggs, a married father of four who lives nearby. “It’s really gotten to the point where I don’t want to walk outside with my kids,” said Scruggs, who is 35 and works in commercial real estate. “It smells like raw sewage.” Odors can’t be avoided at Miami-Dade’s sewage treatment plants, but county administrators say the last year brought some particularly rank stretches of time to the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant, which sits south of Cutler Bay.
 
Merced’s wastewater treatment plant plays a crucial role in protecting the environment
Merced, CA (6 Feb 2025) - Merced’s Wastewater Treatment Plant plays a vital role in protecting the environment as well as humans as treated water and biosolids eventually make their way back into the environment. Multiple steps are involved in treating the wastewater that enters the plant. Merced Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager Bill Osmer, said there are about five or six processes the water goes through after coming into the plant, before the treated product is eventually released back into the environment. These processes involve the removal of pollutants, solids, fats, greases, ammonia and bacteria.
 
From sludge to solutions: ASU students collaborate with city of Tempe on water treatment
Tempe, AZ (7 Feb 2025) - Over the years, Arizona State University’s Project Cities has provided local communities and municipalities with expertise on sustainable solutions for parks, design research, solid waste, general plans and more. This year, one of the student-led projects will venture into water treatment waste and diversion. Approximately 40 chemical engineering capstone students paid a visit to Tempe’s Water Utilities Division on Jan. 31 to explore ways to divert waste water solids, also known as sludge, from landfills.
 
Maine DEP: $50M sludge bond would preserve landfill space
Portland, ME (7 Feb 2025) - The state Department of Environmental Protection is proposing a $50 million bond to help wastewater treatment facilities buy the costly equipment needed to reduce the volume of sewage sludge headed to the state-owned landfill before it runs out of room by 2040. The bond would provide grant funding to as many as five municipal wastewater facilities to install digesters and dryers that would turn the wet slurry into an easier-to-haul solid that doesn’t require the addition of out-of-state bulky waste to be stable enough to be landfilled.
 
Jasper County residents deal with troubling and persistent smell
Jasper County, MO (7 Feb 2025) - Over the last few months, an area encompassing parts of Webb City, Carterville, and the Heritage Acres area has intermittently experienced a noxious and overpowering odor.
Some have compared it to sewage. Others have suggested it might be the product of animal litter or solid waste used to fertilize fields. Local officials say they’ve received scores of complaints, but on their own, they have not been able to bring the problem to any resolution.
DNR still working on ‘sludge’ permits
 
Enterprise to continue biosolids talk
Enterprise, OR (8 Feb 2025) - During the past week, the state Department of Environmental Quality has become involved in the biosolids issue and sent out a letter inviting public comment on the city’s proposal to pay a local farm to take the biosolids to be used for fertilizer. The DEQ requires the city to maintain a biosolids management plan as a condition of its water quality permit, the letter stated. The public comments, due by March 13, are required before the DEQ can approve the city’s plan for disposal of the biosolids.
 
How PFAS Ruined Some Small Texas Farms
Grandview, TX (10 Feb 2025) - The Johnson County, Texas, farmers, along with their county government, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and Potomac Riverkeeper Inc., have collectively sued EPA in federal court for failure to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids, also known as sewage sludge. PFAS make up a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals that are especially resistant to heat and water, leading them to be typically dubbed as "forever chemicals." 
PFAS in fertilisers blamed for killing livestock in Texas and wreaking havoc
Gottfredson: Bill could bring relief to Texan farmers affected by toxic PFAS chemicals
Dangerous ‘forever chemicals' found in Johnson County soil and water, disaster declared
Commissioners await Abbott decision on PFAS emergency declaration request
 
Oregon bill would assess ‘forever chemicals’ in fields fertilized with sewage sludge
Salem, OR (10 Feb 2025) - For the third time, Oregon lawmakers are pushing a bill to study concentrations of the "forever chemical" PFAS in agricultural fields fertilized with sewage sludge. Public wastewater systems throughout the state, including those in Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Albany and Wilsonville, offer treated sludge leftover from sewage processing, known as biosolids, to farmers who don’t grow crops for human consumption. But there is increasing concern that the biosolids could be contaminated with PFAS, or per- and poly-fluorinated substances, a family of chemicals used since the 1940s for their heat-, moisture-, grease- and stain-resistance, as well as non-stick qualities.
Oregon legislators want to understand harms of ‘forever chemicals’ from treated sewage on farms
 
Gardner sludge landfill is nearly full: Why officials propose to expand over other options
Gardner, MA (12 Feb 2025) - Gardner officials have determined that expanding the city's sludge landfill is the most feasible option, as announced at a public meeting of the Sludge Landfill Expansion project Monday night.
Gardner has only a few years before the sludge landfill at 808 West St. reaches capacity, which is expected to happen between 2027 and 2030. Officials will submit a Draft Environmental Impact Report to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Feb. 28 and approval is needed to start construction.
 
EPA recognizes sewer plant team
Warwick, RI (12 Feb 2025) - Cranston’s Water Pollution Control Facility was recently cited for excellence by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The facility was honored with the EPA’s Regional Wastewater treatment Plant Operation and Maintenance Excellence Award which was presented to Plant Superintendent Earl Salisbury during ceremony held in Boston on January 30. According to the EPA, the award was “established to recognize and honor the employees of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants for their commitment to improving water quality with outstanding plant operations and maintenance.”
 
Farm fertilizer or toxic waste? The growing debate over biosolids
Raleigh, NC (14 Feb 2025) - Across North Carolina, treated sewage sludge—known as biosolids—is spread on farmland as fertilizer. But growing concerns over PFAS contamination have farmers, utilities, and regulators grappling with tough choices. For decades, wastewater treatment plants have processed human and industrial waste, creating biosolids that are then used to fertilize crops and improve soil health. Stuart Beam, a farmer in western North Carolina, has used biosolids on his farm since the 1980s. “From the public perspective, there's less cost versus other methods of disposing of it,” Beam said. “At the end of the day, that's what we're doing, because it has to go somewhere.”
 
Cobb Plans to Start Burning Sewage Sludge Again
Marietta, GA (18 Feb 2025) - On average, the Cobb County Water System processes 63 million gallons of wastewater daily. Water from showers, sinks and toilets across the county is filtered, treated and discharged back into bodies of water. But left behind is sewage sludge — a semi-solid byproduct that must be disposed of.
For nearly 25 years, Cobb burned sludge in two incinerators at the R.L. Sutton Water Reclamation Facility on Atlanta Road. A decade ago, the incinerators were decommissioned when the Environmental Protection Agency instituted stricter emissions standards for sludge incinerators.
 
EPA study questions safety of sewage sludge as fertilizer. Will it impact Charlotte Water?
Charlotte, NC (20 Feb 2025) - Charlotte Water “is closely monitoring” a new federal report on potential health risks of sewage sludge spread on farmland as fertilizer — a practice the utility has used for years. A new risk assessment released in January by the Environmental Protection Agency found the sludge —generated during the wastewater treatment process — can contain levels of certain synthetic chemicals dangerous to human health. The sludge is officially called biosolids.
 
Forever chemicals in biosolids may pose problems for municipalities, farmers
Lansing, MI (21 Feb 2025) - A common practice by farmers to fertilize their fields may be spreading forever chemicals into new areas and into the food supply. Biosolids are nutrient-rich organic materials derived from the treatment of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants that are applied as fertilizer. They can be a cost-effective way for local governments to dispose of sewage sludge and for farmers who pay little or nothing to use it as fertilizer. “Solids handling is a cost for municipalities,” said Christian Smith, the PFAS in Biosolids contact for the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, commonly referred to as EGLE. “Whether that’s through land application, landfill or incineration, those are all typically done at a cost to the treatment plant,” he said.
Biosolids use by Michigan farmers sparks PFAS fears 
 
Op-Ed: Looking Forward Means Thinking Globally
Ames, IA (20 Feb 2025) - Modern agriculture is a global enterprise. American farmers feed the world. But today’s farmer is also mindful of the far-reaching impacts of producing such bounty. One major concern for savvy agriculturalists is how nitrogen fertilizer impacts the climate. Nitrogen is an essential crop nutrient and is primarily produced for fertilizers through the Haber-Bosch Process. This process fixes atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia through tremendous heat and pressure—conditions which generate equally tremendous climate-warming emissions. Phosphorus is another essential agricultural nutrient with similarly challenging global impacts. Phosphate extraction motivated the colonization and environmentally disastrous mining of islands across the world. The tiny nation of Nauru had 80% of its land rendered unusable by phosphate strip mining. And the poor Nauruans have nowhere to run: rising sea levels—in part due to nitrogen fertilizer production—have left them stranded.
 
Kalispell City Council to consider fast-tracking wastewater plant upgrades
Kalispell City, MT (24 Feb 2025) - Kalispell City Council will consider adopting a project plan that would hasten upgrades to the municipality’s wastewater treatment plant. The city sends about 70% of its biosolids to Glacier Gold Composting and the rest to the Flathead County Landfill. But Council is looking to move away from composting its biosolids, owing to public concerns surrounding forever chemicals, or PFAS, in the end product and the closure of Glacier Gold Composting’s Olney facility.
 
From waste to worth: Using septic sewage as fertilizer
Athen, OH (25 Feb 2025) - A group of researchers led by an Ohio University professor has found a potential way to reduce nutrient pollution in local waterways and homeowners’ cost of managing home septic sewage systems — while boosting the local economy. In a peer-reviewed study published in August 2024, Sarah Davis, professor of environmental studies in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, suggested that Athens County could boost its economy by turning septic sewage waste into fertilizer. Her research shows septic waste is a viable source for nitrogen and phosphorus, two key nutrients in synthetic fertilizers.
 
USU Researchers Working to Reduce 'Forever Chemicals' in Wastewater Biosolids Used in Ag
Logan, UT (26 Feb 2025) - The Utah Water Research Laboratory is investigating PFAS occurrence in wastewater biosolids used in agriculture. Biosolids improve soil’s water-holding capacity and soil’s organic content, as well as providing a wide range of nutrients necessary for plant growth such as phosphorus and nitrogen. While biosolids can be a nuisance to landfills due to the quantities generated, they become a boon in the agricultural industry when turned into compost. Overall, the composting project is examining 32 mixes of compost, all with varying levels of one or both of the iron/zinc-based chemical compounds in an attempt to adsorb and sequester or degrade PFAS in the biosolids to reduce their uptake into crops grown on biosolids.
 
Internationally
 
Central Okanagan compost created with biosolids not commonly used for agriculture, says landfill manager
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada (31 Jan 2025) - Biosolids containing the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS are not directly applied to local farmland, though after being processed into a product called OgoGrow they can be, a landfill official said in the wake of a the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on the effects of the products used in agriculture.In the Central Okanagan, OgoGrow is a popular and heavily marketed product made by combining biosolids and hog fuel, a byproduct of local lumber mills. It's promoted as a natural way to condition soil and give it an organic boost.
 
The innovative waste treatment helping make Sudanese refugees safer in Chad
Aboutengue camp, Chad (7 Feb 2025) - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has constructed a fecal sludge treatment site in Aboutengue camp, eastern Chad, which hosts approximately 45,000 Sudanese refugees. The treatment site, locally referred to as the "poop factory,” processes waste from 932 latrines built by MSF to support improved sanitation. Charlotte Maupu, former MSF deputy water and sanitation coordinator in Aboutengue, explains how it works and how it’s impacting conditions in the camp.
 
Construction of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant nearing completion near Cherthala
Cherthala, India (12 Feb 2025) - The construction of a Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP) at Anatharaveli in Cherthala is nearing completion. The Cherthala municipality is the first civic body in Alappuzha district to construct an FSTP for the scientific processing of toilet waste. The project is being implemented at a cost of ₹7.33 crore under the Rebuild Kerala Initiative. Officials said 90% of the construction had been completed. “Currently, plumbing and electrical works are in progress. We are making arrangements to complete the final phase work and make the FSTP operational as soon as possible,” said an official.
 
Neighbour raises concerns about CRD biosolids being applied to land near Nanaimo
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (17 Feb 2025) - Some neighbours near Nanaimo are concerned about the biosolids being sent from the Capital Regional District (CRD) to a quarry near their homes. They say they’re worried about the nearby Nanaimo River and for wildlife that have access to the area. “My main concern would be the water leaching into the river,” said Jason, a neighbour who asked CHEK News not to publish his last name for fear of reprisals.
 
African mayors commit to provide better sanitation facilities
Kampala, Uganda (18 Feb 2025) - African city mayors, meeting under the auspices of the African Water and Sanitation Association (Afwasa), have committed to finding sustainable solutions to provide better sanitation services in the face of fast growing urban populations across the continent. More than 100 mayors attended the Mayors’ Forum on the sidelines of the ongoing 22nd Afwasa Congress and Exhibition at the Speke Munyonyo in Kampala. One of the pertinent issues discussed was the collection and treatment of faecal sludge in most of Africa cities where the majority of slum dwellers lack sanitation facilities.
 
Northern States Urged To Tap Faecal Sludge For Energy, Farming
Abuja, Nigeria (23 Feb 2025) - An environmentalist, Professor Isah Muhammad, has called on northern states to explore the untapped potential of faecal sludge for energy production and agricultural use. Speaking in an exclusive interview in Bauchi, Prof. Muhammad, a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Management Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), emphasised that improper disposal of faecal sludge was wasting valuable resources that could transform lives in the region. Prof. Muhammad, also a member of the Bauchi State Climate Resilient Faecal Sludge Management Strategy Technical Committee, noted the vast economic opportunities embedded in faecal sludge management. “Many households in the North see human waste as mere garbage, not realising its potential to produce alternative energy in the form of briquettes. This would reduce deforestation and help conserve the environment,” he said.
 

March 2025 - Sally Brown Research Library & Commentary

Sally Brown

Provided for consideration to MABA members by
Sally Brown, PhD., University of Washington


Restoration

With the current obsessions re: PFAS and microplastics, it is easy to forget that biosolids are so good that they can literally bring dead soils back to life. Using biosolids for restoring disturbed soils was an early beneficial use that has withstood the test of time. Back in the day most of the biosolids produced in Chicago went to revegetate coal strip mine soils. Much of the cake in Washington went to the coal mine here in Centralia. The same was true for mines in Pennsylvania with a special mine mix compost produced from Philadelphia biosolids. Yours truly worked to bring this magic to the EPA Superfund program. This month’s library focuses on newer literature on this topic but starts off with a paper by one of the all-time experts - Lee Daniels. Dr Daniels has recently retired from Virginia Tech where much of his career focused on using biosolids for restoration of disturbed and/ or mined soils. 

Paper #1 Quality of Amended Mine Soils After Sixteen Years was published in 2001 and talks about a project established in 1982. That should give you some sense of how old this beneficial use is. The paper was written long before the term ‘soil health’ came into vogue but the authors understood the importance of the concept - here referring to it as soil quality. The study was set up on mined lands in Virginia and included a number of treatments. Overburden, native soil (harvested from a nearby forest), sawdust and biosolids at different rates were added to the soil. All treatments except for the biosolids had added N, P and K. Grasses were planted in half of the plots and trees in the other half. The high rate of the biosolids (224 Mg ha) was too high for the trees and so was left out of the final paper. What likely happened is that the surface soil became anaerobic and overly rich in ammonia right after application (my thoughts, not theirs). The first few years were a bonanza for biosolids with much higher growth and more soil organic matter than the other treatments. Over time things evened out. The table below shows that the other treatments effectively caught up to the biosolids over time.

sb1


Paper #2: Revegetation of degraded ecosystems into grasslands using biosolids as an organic amendment: A meta-analysis comes from researchers in British Columbia including Lachlan Fraser. It is a review of all of the studies where biosolids have been used to restore grasslands. The authors identified close to 60 studies, mostly in N America and Europe. Their findings went hand in hand with those in paper #1; a big increase in vegetation after application that only started to slow down after > 15 years. The bump was lower in areas that had suffered from burns. They saw no differences in species diversity or richness as a result of biosolids. Plants grew faster and bigger in warmer wetter climates. 
 
Paper #3 Soil health as a proxy for long-term reclamation success of metal contaminated mine tailings using lime and biosolids takes us to a site that I know very well. Here Jim Ippolito (now at Ohio State) went back to Leadville, CO, a site that I worked on more than 20 years ago. This site was on the US EPA Superfund list and had been barren for over 50 years when I got there. Here are a few pictures to emphasize just how long ago that was.

sb2

The site was highly acidic and had toxic concentrations of lead, zinc and cadmium. The guy on the horse was Doc Smith- the veterinarian who had realized that it was excess Zn that was causing a copper deficiency in foals and killing them. We amended the soils with high rates of biosolids and lime (100 tons per acre of each). That is Chuck Henry walking across an amended field with snowshoes. The return visit to the site evaluated the performance over time using the framework of soil health. It passed with good grades if not flying colors. One could argue that it has held up over time better than I have. 
 
Paper #4 Phytostabilization of acidic mine tailings with biochar, biosolids, lime, and locally-sourced microbial inoculum: Do amendment mixtures influence plant growth, tailing chemistry, and microbial composition?  Reports on a greenhouse study conducted using tailings from another Superfund site in OR. This study has a focus on the soil microbial population in addition to plant growth and soil chemistry. They collected microbes from a nearby forest, from tailings and also added a no microbe control. They could have saved themselves some time. These people were too taken with the magic biochar and added biosolids in combination with biochar to all treatments at a 1:4 ratio. You heard that right. Way too much biochar and just a sprinkling of the good stuff. They were expecting the microbes to work magic. Instead there were no differences in microbes for any of the treatments. There were more fungi in the rhizosphere where biosolids were present. Plants did grow bigger in the treatments that included char and biosolids. If they had reversed the ratio of the two, they would have had a jungle. This is not how you do mineland reclamation. They should have talked to Lee Daniels before they started. 
 
For the 5th paper: Microbiota recovery in a chronosquences of impoverished Cerrado soils  with biosolids applications we go to Brazil. It would appear that the people in charge of restoration here have met Lee Daniels. They applied 100 Mg ha biosolids to degraded mine sites. The biosolids were high in iron which makes it easier for organic matter to last. The organic matter gets complexed with the iron oxides (more on that in an upcoming library). Eighteen years after application and the biosolids worked miracles. See the figure below. 

 sb3

The microbes came back in force as well. The authors used three different tools to evaluate microbial richness and diversity and across all of them, the biosolids won hands down. 
 
So, lessons learned here: If you have a mine site or degraded land without contaminants you can be patient and over time, the plants will come. If you want to speed up that process - take it from decades to seasons- you can rely on biosolids. Adding biosolids (and correcting pH) can also do the trick for metal contaminated sites that otherwise would be barren for lifetimes. Finally, when you add the biosolids - you don’t have to do anything extra to restore the plant community or the microbial community over time. I would call that one stop shopping. 
 
Sally Brown is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington, and she is also a columnist and editorial board member for BioCycle magazine.  

Do you have information or research to share with MABA members? Looking for other research focus or ideas?

Contact Mary Baker at [email protected] or 845-901-7905.

 

Important Update for MABA Members:
Results from the 2nd National Survey of Biosolids Regulation, Quality, End Use and Disposal in the U.S.

The National Biosolids Data Project (NBDP) has been recently unveiled. You are invited to its comprehensive, user-friendly, data-rich website: http://biosolidsdata.org.  This website provides both a national overview of biosolids generation and utilization/disposal in the target year 2018, but, importantly and most usefully for practitioners in the mid-Atlantic region, the NBDP also includes state summary reports.  Your MABA staff and volunteers are assembling a webpage which will allow quick access to the state reports in our region. 

This NBDP data site was prepared over a two-year period. It was accomplished on a shoe-string budget of about $60,000, with a small EPA grant and some financial contributions from WEF, NACWA and public agencies, and with many hours of volunteer time. The focus  is comprehensive, with details on technologies, particularly the distinction of Class A and Class B levels of pathogen treatment, with categories of utilization outlets and products (compost versus pellets), with capture of landfill and incineration disposal, and with an overview of each state’s regulations. 

A key feature of the project was the survey of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs), generators of biosolids.  The survey had 452 valid and representative responses from WRRFs in 43 states and DC. This is a set that comprises a flow of about 12,000 MGD, or 34% of total municipal effluent flows in the United States. When generously supplied by public agencies, surveys provided in addition to mass of biosolids and uses, information on pollutant concentrations, program costs and points of view on hurdles and barriers. In a few cases, the surveys of state officials were able to elicit information on septage management.  The EPA biosolids records for 2018 in ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online) was also brought into the analysis. 

Every effort was made to provide comparable data across all states, but this goal was elusive. In the end, the data reports of 32 states were judged of high confidence, 12 were of moderate confidence and 4 of low confidence.  Every state office responsible for biosolids management was afforded an opportunity to review and correct its state’s data and description.  

While this richly compiled database might clearly have commercial value, the results are freely available and are intended to aid in the transparency of biosolids programs to the public. 

Ned Beecher, for 20 years executive director of NEBRA and then special projects coordinator for the early PFAS response,  is the principal investigator for this “second” survey. He was the principal designer of the two surveys (one for state officials and the other for public agencies) and of the database, though with much feedback along the way, Ned had been also the leader of the first survey, which was released fifteen years ago, July 2007, based on biosolids generation and use in 2004, which explains in part the ambitious goals of the current survey. 

Many biosolids practitioners over the years had come to rely on this first survey. It was clear to all who used it recently that the first survey had become dated. Ned took on this herculean project, and now with its completion, we can give hearty kudos to Ned for his vision and persistence. Today you will note from Ned’s email communications that he is now the “former” special project manager for NEBRA and available for hire.  But updates to the second survey, whether to correct or amplify it, or to change it to reflect new developments, will need to be shouldered by others, and we await these folks to emerge and step forward. 

The survey year of 2018 may have the feel of “historical” today. But, at the opening of the project in mid-2020, this was the year most likely to be complete in its data set from federal, state, and municipal sources. The project was intended to be completed by Spring 2021, but whether a victim of pandemic staffing challenges or from competing issues for biosolids practitioners, data collection for this new survey was a slog.  In the mid-Atlantic region, the year 2018 had an atypical influence of large rainfall volumes, and in the Northeast region the discovery of perfluoroalkyl substances disrupted programs. 

Here is the big reveal!  Total biosolids used or disposed of in the U. S. in 2018 was 5,823,000 dry metric tons (dmt). This compares to 6,132,000 dmt reported in the 2004 survey.  This decline in total biosolids was a surprise to the NBDP team. The decline may reflect less double counting than in 2004 of solids hauled from small to larger plants for treatment, or in some locations it may reflect a shift from alkaline stabilization to digestion, the latter technology reducing total dry solids. The 2018 database involved fewer estimations, particularly of biosolids production at small WRRFs. With the estimation in this second survey of the sewered population served, the total national average per capita production of biosolids annually is 37 pounds. That agencies and states show a wide range around this average suggests other aspects at play, perhaps the proportion of combined sewer systems and the acceptance of septage from unsewered areas. 

Here is the second big reveal.  Fifty-three percent of biosolids produced in the United States in 2018 were beneficially used. Within this number are some important findings.  More Class A EQ biosolids are being produced in 2018 than in 2004. Despite policies for organics diversion from municipal waste landfills in some states and regions, the same percentage of biosolids are commingled with municipal waste in 2018 as in 2004.  The percentage of biosolids fed to incinerators has declined, with a fewer number of sewage sludge incinerators in operation.  The survey showed, too, decreased full time equivalent (FTE) employees regulating biosolids at state and federal agencies.  As our industry has asserted in the past, the proportion of our nation's croplands receiving biosolids as a nutrient source is very small, less than 1%.

The Mid Atlantic Biosolids Association participated in the NBDP project. It reviewed electronic record reports to the EPA and state environmental agencies, and also surveyed state officials and larger public agencies.  In the work covering the 7 states and one district in this region, the NBPD documented that the over 1,800 significant POTWs serve 50 million “sewered” customers, producing 1.3 million dry tons of biosolids annually. Sixteen WRRFs in the region produce over 10,000 dmt. NYCDEP is largest agency (~100,000 dmt), and in descending order are Philadelphia Water Department, DC Water, Passaic Valley Water Commission, Middlesex County Utility Authority, Baltimore Department of Public Works, ALCOSAN (Allegheny County, PA), Hampton Roads Sanitation District (VA), City of Rochester (NY), DELCORA, Bergen County Utility Authority (NJ), Suffolk County (NY), Arlington County (VA), Nassau County (NY), and Fairfax County (VA). The average per capita annual biosolids production in the MABA region is 54 dry pounds.

The NBDP state reports include narratives describing notable facilities and programs that serve to treat and use biosolids. In the MABA region report are these distinctive points. Composting is a major treatment technology in the region (e.g., Burlington Co, Rockland Co, Baltimore, A&M Composting, Natural Soils, Spotsylvania (VA) and many small facilities). Two new, large compost facilities under development in reach of Philadelphia.  DELCORA and ALCOSAN are large utilities with sludge Incinerators; others in NY (Rochester), NJ (ACUA) and VA have upgraded to meet new MACT standards.  The US’s principal service companies, Synagro and Denali, have main offices in the MABA region and serve hundreds of agency clients NYC is the sole large facility in the US without a pathway to Class A EQ products. PVSC is the exclusive example of a long-tested Zimpro wet oxidation solids treatment, and this agency accepts solids from dozens of agencies.  Co-digestion with high strength organic waste has great reference facilities in the MABA region (Rahway Valley SA, Lehigh County Authority, and Hermitage, PA). Landis Sewerage Authority in Vineland NJ is arguably the “greenest” WRRF, with zero effluent discharge and wholly onsite biosolids use.

The narrative also sets the stage for understanding how Pennsylvania, producer of significant biosolids, is also a destination for biosolids from other states. The nature of Pennsylvania’s “accommodative” regulation of biosolids, and similarly restrictive rules in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, ensures that the transport of biosolids regionally and in the direction of Pennsylvania is a significant part of the story of biosolids management regionally. This role is only indirectly revealed in the NBDP. That is because the survey was structured to discuss for each state the mass of biosolids production and the utilization outlets for those state-generated biosolids.  

Though the NBDP is the latest information source available to us biosolids practitioners, in a way it is already outdated. Since the 2018 target year for data collection, pressures on two major categories, landfill disposal and land application, have increased.  Important issue areas of PFAS contamination worries, risks of new regulations of soil phosphorus, and the experience of inadequate seasonal storage have underscored the challenges of maintaining farmland for biosolids applications.  But landfill owners have tightened access by biosolids generators to municipal landfills. This is not only a challenge to Pennsylvania agencies, but more widely to agencies in adjoining states in the mid-Atlantic, which have been reliant on Pennsylvania destinations.  

The other side of this “challenges” coin with biosolids in the MABA region is the opportunities for development of merchant facilities and innovative technologies. These include existing innovative facilities, such as  regional composting (A&M Composting, Burlington Co-Composting and Rockland County Composting), thermal hydrolysis combined with mesophilic digestion (DC Water and HRSD), co-digestion plants (e.g., Hermitage Food Waste to Energy Facility) and drying processes (Synagro in Philadelphia and Baltimore).  Indeed, the MABA region is a landing place for emerging thermal biosolids solutions, such as pyrolysis (BioForceTech), hydrothermal carbonization (SOMAX Bioenergy ), PA and gasification (EarthCare, EcoRemedy and Aries Clean Energy) --  solutions that seem to be particularly urgent in this time of PFAS.

The National Biosolids Data Project demonstrates that the mid-Atlantic region, responsible for nearly a quarter of the nation’s biosolids generation. It is your foundation for understanding future opportunities for biosolids management. Go use it: http://biosolidsdata.org. And, we who helped to assemble the database also will welcome corrections and updates as you find them worthwhile for keeping the information current and accurate, and you can do so by contacting Mary Firestone at  [email protected].

 
More Articles...
<< first < Prev 1 2 Next > last >>

Page 1 of 2