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`I C O'rnmr` may 1 1 oit tat M1 _-� FAmmy GRUBB )newsobserver.com i® The Orange Water ,uthority's board of di- :onsider'ending a pro- s sprayed, treated sew- n local farmland since OWASA remove the water from the 'sludge 'and send all the "dewa- tered biosolids" to the McGill com- pany in Chatham County for com- The first part of a two -part draft gen- deprived enviro posting. The company converts Biosolids Management Report will micro - organisms eat a the biosolids into fertilizers and be discussed at 6 p.m. Thursday in undesirable micro -orl soil compost. the OWASA Community Room, bacteria in the biosoli The change could save $113,000 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro. The process produc a year in mostly sludge program The board could decide later this which is burned, and personnel but also some equip - '' month. The second part of the ' lids; or sewage sludge, ment costs, the report says. port, due March 6, will offer short- sludge is regularly tes It also could avoid the need for and long -term solutions. ity, trace metals, soli( more land if future changes to fed- Sludge is a byproduct of treating and other materials. ( eral rules affect how much sludge human feces and other sewage tests for groundwater can be sprayed, the report says. waste. So- called biosolids are sep- tion near sludge field: Those rates now are based on the arated from water at the Mason OWASA treats 7.5 nitrogen content of the biosolids Farm Wastewater Treatment Ions of residential sew and how much nitrogen is required Plant. The biosolids are treated at Mason Farm and pr( by the crops being sprayed. with high temperatures in an oxy- SEE SLUDGE, PAGE 3A Wednesday, January 7, 2015 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A July 2013 to June 2014, a lit- tle over 3,029 tons of wet bio- solids. Half is sprayed on 1,087 acres of farmland in Orange, Chatham and Alamance counties, about 86 percent privately owned. OWASA owns another 153 acres of spray fields west of Orange Grove Road that could be used for any future spraying. The other half is dried and sent to McGill, which` con- tracted with OWASA in 2007 to compost about 28 percent of its biosolids. The New Hill plant is roughly 50 miles roundtrip and charges $26 per wet ton. OWASA report- ed spraying 1,200 to 1,400 tons of sewage sludge on farmland in 2006. Stopping the sewage sludge program is a good start, said Myra Dotson, founder of the Sewage Sludge Action Network: But sending all the bioso- lids to McGill, she said, is just exporting the problem, because the compost and fer- tilizers produced still contain traces of heavy metals, bacte- ria and other toxic materials. Using it on lawns, gardens and playing fields will make more people sick, she said. The Orange County -based group educates people about the dangers to public and en- vironmental health of sewage sludge and the garden prod- ucts produced from it, which What's The OWASA Board of Di- rectors will discuss a draft Biosolids Management Re- port at 6 p.m. Thursday in the OWASA Community Room, 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro. Comments also can be sent to the board via email at boardmembers@owa- sa.org or by mail to 400 Jones Ferry Road, Carrbo- ro, NC 27510. European and some U.S. sci- entists have begun to recog- nize. Those researchers argue the science behind federal Envi- ronmental Protection Agency rules is outdated, the National Institutes of health reported in 2013, and residents living near sludge land have reported physical symptoms, including skin rashes and respiratory and ,gastrointestinal distress. More research was recom- mended in 2002, but the NIH reported last year that little has been done. One alternative, Dotson said, is disposing of biosolids in an incinerator equipped with air scrubbers. Modern systems also combine the sludge with sawdust to create pellets or gas that can then be burned to produce' energy.: She and others plan to bring their ideas — which they've shared with OWASA before — to Thursday's meeting. Grubb: 919- 932 -8746