Biosolids, Human Waste:   In the harbour or on our food?

 By: Dr. Brad Lohrenz   

For centuries, we in Halifax have been dumping our toilet and sewer waste into the harbour.  This is an issue, and the pollution created has become more and more of a worry in recent years.  So we started to look at what to do about it.  We invested heavily into a waste treatment management facility.  Its job is to filter the waste, and cleanse the water before it is put back into the harbour.  The idea is that this will help clean up our harbour.  Great!  Now what to do with the excess waste?  The answer has come to us in the form of “biosolids”.

Human and animal waste has been used for centuries as a great fertilizer for our crops.  Mixing in fecal waste replenishes the soil, and gives nutrients back into the ground.  This makes the land more productive, and aids crops.  We have now developed a way to create something called biosolids from our excess waste.

The process of creating biosolids is to take our waste from our sewers, factories and toilets and send it to a treatment plant.  In the process, they mix the sewage sludge with a high alkaline material (usually lime, like cement kiln dust) and the mixture is heated at a high temperature.  They then dry it, and compact it.  It is cut into blocks, ground up and sold as a fertilizer, called a biosolid. (The company N-Viro Systems Canada LP produces biosolids from HRM at an industrial park near the Halifax Stanfield airport.) 

So, we now have a way we can dispose of our waste without dumping it into the harbour.  We can produce biosolids.   Also we can make money off selling the biosolids.  Yahhh!  Biosolids are produced to be put on our farming land.  But is it that easy? 

For many, the thought of cow manure on a crop is tolerable, but there is a certain feeling of “ick” that comes with thinking about people feces being used to grow our food.  To me; however, this is not really the big issue.  The big issue is the change in our “poo”.  In the past 40 years, we have had a tremendous increase in the number of chemicals and medications available and used by our society.  Studies have shown that often the ingested medications are not fully broken down in our bodies, and; therefore, would be excreted.  We also excrete drugs in our urine (remember drug testing – this works for illegal and prescription drugs).  Add to this the fact that old medications are often flushed down the toilet and go into our waste water.   In addition think of all the other “new” chemicals added to our lifestyle.  The chemical advancements in our society have brought us a plethora of new shampoos, cleaning products, clothes detergents, dishwashing detergents, painting products etc.  Unfortunately, the basement sink, the toilet, and the sewer often become convenient ways of disposing of unwanted or used product.  Add on top of that industrial waste from factories and industrial plants; chemicals like lubricants, washes, excess product, heavy metals, and pesticides which all conveniently find their way into the sewer.  The changes to our waste have been huge in the past years.  We can no longer look at human waste as a harmless, helpful fertilizer.  You need to take into account everything that goes down those drains.

Think about how our waste products must have changed in the past 40 years!  The problem is that there are many, many new chemicals which never existed before.  There are so many chemicals that in most cases we do not test for them.  This often leads to the old “ostrich with his head in the sand” excuse which goes “if we don’t test for them, they don’t exist”.  Unfortunately they do.  We know that these drugs and chemicals are in our waste.  I see these chemicals in our waste as both expanding in number and amount as well as concentrating in intensity.  Now if we allow the dumping of this waste on our farmlands, what will be the result in a generation or two?  Will all of our farmlands be polluted?  Also, studies are starting to show that certain crops will selectively uptake the chemicals in the land.  So you now might have a crop of lettuce that likes to suck up the residue of anti-depressants.  This would produce a “happy salad”, but is this what you want for your kids!  We need to be aware of what we are doing!

Here is an example of a problem that has arisen from the introduction of new chemicals into our environment, PFOS.  A chemical called PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate), is used as an additive in some fire-fighting foams and production of water repellant clothing.  This is a man made chemical and was not around 100 years ago.  It gets into the ground water through treated and untreated municipal and industrial wastewater discharges as well as leaching from landfills. April 19, 2010, pg A2 of the Chronicle Herald carried a story about high levels of PFOS found in the ground water (well water) at 14 Wing Greenwood, here in Nova Scotia.  (A likely scenario would be increased training for fires and accidents on the base where PFOS are used.)  At Greenwood, they have stopped using the wells for drinking and cooking water and are looking at alternatives.  The story goes on to state that PFOS are “fairly common in the environment” and that almost every Canadian carries some level of the chemical in their blood due to exposure!!  I could not dismiss this story so easily.  Here is a chemical that did not exist 100 years ago, would only have very selective uses, and is now found in Greenwood’s water as well as the blood of almost every Canadian.  How did this happen?  Question: Is the use of biosolids going to expand the chemical pollution of our and our children’s blood, so that in 25 or 50 years there will be more chemicals that are written off as “fairly common”?  To me this is scary, and it is at the heart of my issues with the use of biosolids.

Biosolids, after they are prepared are classified.  A “class A biosolid” meets government standards and is no longer considered a waste product.  It can now be put on farmland and there are no more restrictions on it.  A “class B biosolid” cannot be used for farm usage, because it would still contain higher levels of one or more of the 13 contaminants we monitor.  There are many non-food usages for class B biosolids like forestry, grass and turf growing. 

Pro-biosolid groups and the government are stating that these biosolids are safe.  It is touted as a cheap, valuable, non-chemical fertilizer, also as a mildly alkaline soil additive for replacing nutrients.  This sounds great, right?

A group of citizens from Nova Scotia signed a petition to ban the use of biosolids in Nova Scotia. Why?  At this time the Nova Scotia government refuses to ban biosolids; however, it has devised a list of guidelines for its use.  Again, if it’s such a great option, why is there a debate?

Nova Scotiastates that it has the highest standards of biosolid testing in Canada.  Does this mean that ours is great, or does it just mean that other jurisdictions are lacking?  Nova Scotia states it is one of the few jurisdictions in the world that monitors what are called “emerging substances of concern.” (like pharmaceuticals, and fire retardants).  This doesn’t sound great for other areas of the world.  Also the government has set limits on only 13 contaminants out of the thousands that there could possibly be.

On April 8, 2010, the Nova Scotia Environment Minister made a statement regarding biosolids to the Nova Scotia legislature “When proper guidelines and regulations are followed, biosolids will not pose a health risk to individuals, crop production, or the environment.” [April 9, 2010: Halifax Chronicle Herald]  Statements like this always lead me to think.  How does one ensure biosolids are safe?  Are the guidelines and regulations sufficient?

 

Issues:

• There are thousands of contaminants in our and industrial waste.  We test for thirteen.  This is better then any other jurisdiction in Canada, but is it enough?
• The list of pathogens, metals and chemicals that go down our toilets and drains is long.  We are told that there is no scientifically established risk associated with the low concentrations of these chemical and pollutants.  However, who is doing that research?  Most of the scientific research in this country is funded by the pharmaceutical and chemical companies to find uses for these products.  Who funds research to find issues with them?  There are so many chemicals and such a low amount of funding into this field of science (pollutants and their effect), that it would take centuries to find issues at this rate.  We are told that we have regulations that limit the level of these contaminants in biosolids.  But how can we?  We can’t, and don’t test for all of them.

 

Our “poo” is not the same as the “poo” produced 100 years ago.  We have chemicalized our civilization.  We have polluted our environment.  Our “poo” is no longer safe to use as a fertilizer.  It’s sad isn’t it?  Where do we go from here?  How do we keep our farms and crops safe?  Where do we put our human waste?  If we continue to dump it into the harbour, we can’t swim there and we will continue to contaminate the environment.  If we take the waste and dump it in a pit, the chemical waste will continue to break down and will seep into our ground water, further contaminating our environment.  If we allow the production and use of biosolids,  what will be the effect on our crops and where will we be in another 10, 20 or 50 years?  This is a hard debate.  It makes me think.

 

Dr. Brad Lohrenz is a chiropractor who practices in downtown Halifax in the Halifax Professional Centre

Questions and comments are welcomed

Robie @ Spring Garden Chiropractic Clinic

103-5991 Spring Garden Road(902) 422-3279