EPA Misrepresented Risks Of Sewage Sludge
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 reminded Americans of the importance of defending the homeland. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the EPA.
Despite trillions of dollars spent on homeland security and defense over the past two decades, most Americans and others around the world are consuming PFAS-contaminated water and/or food, using contaminated products or breathing contaminated air. At least 45 percent of America’s tap water is estimated to have one or more types of the chemicals known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, not all of which can be detected with current tests; the USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types. PFAS is just the tip of a very large and very toxic iceberg. Unstoppable neurotoxins might pose an even more formidable threat.
Mismanagement Has Weaponized Sewage Sludge
Wastewater is the largest waste stream in the world and possibly the most toxic waste stream in the world. It is largely unregulated. Wastewater treatment facilities in the United States alone process approximately 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. There was a time when human sewage was a fairly benign substance that cities and towns could disperse naturally without threatening an entire nation.
Today’s wastewater stream includes everything dumped down the drains and toilets at homes and offices, factories, hospitals, health clinics, slaughterhouses, mortuaries, auto repair shops and much more. It isn’t fertilizer.
We’re all part of the sewage problem, but misinformation, disinformation, incomplete science and more have compounded the problem. It has caused an environmental catastrophe and a public health disaster that is still unfolding.
Wastewater treatment plants are barely able to separate the liquids from the solids in this high-volume, toxic soup. Neutralizing and removing all neurotoxins, forever chemicals and radionuclides, for example, is impossible. Safe handling and disposal of this deadly waste stream is imperative, but the reality is much different. After superficial treatment, the water and the solids are pumped right back into the homeland for reuse. Just a few years ago, sewage sludge killed underwater ecosystems, when dumped at sea. Today, it is hyped as fertilizer for farms, ranches, golf courses, parks, ballparks, school grounds, cemeteries, forests and beyond. Like magic, sewage sludge became biosolids and wastewater is now drinking water. Thanks to the EPA, the waste stream is the new gold rush.
In October 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), a.k.a. the Ocean Dumping Act, to regulate the dumping of all materials that adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine environment. It took the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (an amendment to the MPRSA) to prohibit the dumping of municipal sewage sludge, industrial waste and medical waste into the ocean.
Bans were motivated by the discovery of contaminated wastes from sewage-derived microorganisms at public beaches, toxic metals in shellfish beds, and parasites in fish. Sludge can contain heavy metals like cadmium and copper, which sewage treatment plants can’t filter out. Ocean dumping can destroy marine habitats and ecosystems.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pushing a different story for the past 30 years. In response to the ban on dumping sewage sludge at sea, the EPA expedited a flawed, if not fraudulent, risk assessment and concluded that the toxic waste that destroyed marine ecosystems was actually beneficial to open land, including farmland, ranches, forests, parks, golf courses, school grounds, ballparks and city parks.
Biosolids is a glorified term for sewage sludge. The EPA estimates that more than 2.4 million tons are applied to land annually as fertilizer on farms, pastures, parks, home gardens, and other lands. Biosolids are made from both municipal and industrial waste, and although they are treated to remove pathogens and some other materials, PFAS are not removed during treatment and EPA does not currently limit the amount of PFAS they can contain.
It calls biosolids a cheap fertilizer (they pay farmers to take this toxic waste off their hands). Now, many farms and ranches are paying the ultimate price for this cheap fertilizer.
Read The Full Story About Biosolids and The Public Health Disaster
