Human Feces Used as Fertilizer Has Neighbors Fuming

Want good Lemons - Urinate under the Lemon Tree and you'll get the biggest and juiciest produce - same goes for many plants - I'm a bit wary of lettuce from certain cultures as it goes straight onto the leaves rather than in the ground.

They say God has provided all we need

reply to post by TheRedneck


Excellent..sounds like I may not be the only angry old guy around here
For me this worlds stupidity builds up to a point where it becomes unbearable, then I resort to _ _ _ _ _ _..(thats where you put your vices/ or remedies)..whatever you want to call them..
Nice Job!

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by pteridine

 

Interesting that you mentioned tomatoes.

Near Palmerton, PA, unsterilized sludge was used years ago to reclaim land that had been ruined by the operators of the Horsehead Zinc Mine located there. Mine tailings were dumped without regard for the environment for years, and there were miles of mountainside that had no vegetation on it.

After the unsterilized sludge was applied, vegetation appeared. The vegetation consisted mostly of tomato plants. Because the sludge was not sterilized, tomato seeds that had passed intact through human digestive tracts were still viable and germinated. The tomato plants flourished in their bed of human manure. When locals noticed the size of the fruits on these plants, they started picking and eating them.

I'm guessing these folks did not suffer from zinc deficiency for a while.

Unsterilzed sludge is nasty. It is a mix of many strains of active treatment bacteria plus whatever is in human waste. The whole reason for having to get rid of the sludge is that bacteria grow geometrically and have to be removed regularly so they don't grow out of the pot. there are optimum concentrations of biomass and optimum hydraulic detention times. Keeping the tanks aerated is really important and a major expense is the electricity for the aerators and pumps. What happens if the aeration is not right is that dissolved oxygen is quickly used up and the bacteria [called bugs by WWT operators] can shift metabolic pathways. These are facultative bacteria and when they go anaerobic, all the heteroatoms come out in a reduced state. This means sulfides and amines which are odor problems. In a controlled system, sulfides can be generated on purpose to precipitate heavy metals. In general, sulfides are the most insoluble compounds of the heavy metals which is why they are often ore deposits.
The local folks were probably not deficient in several other metals if they were using well water from the base of Blue Mountain. The area has legacy problems with Zinc, Cadmium, Copper, and Lead from smelting waste runoff and leachate.
See www.epa.gov...

This is probably mostly because people are uninformed and because of the taboo that it is in todays society. People will think of all the sick (AIDS, Hepatitis) and say well I dont want to eat food grown in that feces.

Originally posted by navy_vet_stg3
There is no threat to the ground water. I worked at a sewage treatment plant a long time ago. The sludge is generally drained from the aerators into a concrete lined sand pit to dry out. The stuff doesn't even stink. It dries into a crust, and you rake it up. It makes great fertilizer, similar to cattle manure. The guy complaining probably doesn't understand the sewage treatment process, and thinks it's raw sewage being dumped on the crops. Some people.....

I remember going to Bolivar sewerage plant on an excursion in primary school and being shown the "sludge" and the guy explaining to us how it was sold as fertilizer. Nobody batted an eyelid over it, but later when the class saw a single poo floating along in a waterway, the screams were deafening.

This has more to do with how people are programmed. Some people still think it's disgusting to go to the toilet behind a bush...

reply to post by pteridine
Thanks for the Palmerton/EPA link.

There are some great pics on there, especially the aerial shot, showing the deforestation that occurred there. Even though the initial sludge applications involved unsterilized material, I believe the end result was a vast improvement.

The mushroom compost that was used is sterilized after it is composted, but it may have simply served as clean food for the bugs existing in the sludge, instead of having any mitigating effect.

Official US government policy is the disposal of toxic industrial wastes in public sewers. Sewer treatment concentrates the chemicals in the sewage sludge. Pretreatment is no longer strictly enforced for fear of costing industries money and causing loss of jobs.


In 2007, tons of Milwaukee sewage sludge "Milorganite" had to be scraped off 30 public parks and disposed in EPA licensed hazardous waste landfill because of toxic levels of carcinogenic PCBs ( polychloride biphenyl ethers). In 2008 and 2009 Milwaukee had more problems with excessive levels of PCBs in their sludge biosolids.

www.thedailygreen.com...



In 2010, high levels of toxic lead (1100 parts per million) in the Milwaukee sludge biosolids spread on Kenosha, Wisconsin, farm fields greatly exceeded the EPA limit of 300 ppm in Class A EQ sludge biosolids.

www.jsonline.com...


Sewage sludge Milorganite is a dangerous "fertilizer" which should not be used on home gardens or public parks and playgrounds where children and pets are exposed.
Class A sewage sludge biosolids has caused many incidents of illness:


www.sludgevictims.com...

Chemical pollutants and pathogens in sludge are taken up and internalized by vegetables and plants.
www.sludgevictims.com...



Helane Shields, Alton, NH www.sludgevictims.com...

reply to post by TheRedneck


My point I was trying to make earlier is that THESE days, as opposed to when everything was much more natural, human waste will contain more stuff than is ok to re-cycle. Such as all those meds everybody takes! All those Monsanto chemicals that are in everything from food to toothpaste and more.

In other words, human waste is not what it used to be. I really don't know how the re-cyclers of it would be able to absolutely be certain that anything harmful in human waste has been removed completely.

Originally posted by Nana2
reply to post by TheRedneck

 

My point I was trying to make earlier is that THESE days, as opposed to when everything was much more natural, human waste will contain more stuff than is ok to re-cycle. Such as all those meds everybody takes! All those Monsanto chemicals that are in everything from food to toothpaste and more.

In other words, human waste is not what it used to be. I really don't know how the re-cyclers of it would be able to absolutely be certain that anything harmful in human waste has been removed completely.

While the organics are a problem, they eventually oxidize. The problem is not the treatment of human waste, it is the industrial waste that also flows into the treatment plants. Many components can concentrate on the biomass and when the biomass is 'wasted,' as it must be, using it as a fertilizer redistributes those components, in some cases directly into the food supply.
Chemical plants can be and are operated with the highest levels of environmental controls. An exemplary plant is the Tennessee Eastman facility in Kingsport, TN. Solids are fired in a kiln, liquids go to a pretreament plant, and all the facility drains are valved to respond to an accidental spill by shutting the drain. The big problem is old industry. Facilities that have been in existence since the early 1900's and have not been designed for their present use. Drains are unmarked and forgotten. Land is contaminated. Tanks leak. People are exposed to legacy contamination without realizing it when an old facility is redone into technomodern offices or living spaces.

reply to post by pteridine
I am seeing a lot more onsite WWT in industrial settings today, it was practically unheard of 20 years ago. This has cut a lot of hazardous waste out of the municipal load.

Large corporations can save money by treating onsite vs paying fees to municipal facilities. If they have large amounts of organics in their waste stream, they can also recover costs by using methane to fire boilers or electric generators.

This has been going on for years.

Back in the late fifties I remember being able to buy Malognite. It comes from, I believe a sewer plant in Cincinnati.

If you go to Home Depot now and ask for somewhat of an organic fertilizer, some of the help there will point you to this. I showed them on the bag where it came from and they were very surprised.

It comes from one of the first city sewer plants in the country.

For years now there has been a war going on in some locals about farmers using sewer plant sludge on their fields for fertilizer.

What is amazing about the sludge is, mud worms can't live where it has been spread. That tells me there is certainly something wrong with it.

Also, who knows what has been put into the sewer and has been left in this sludge, heavy medals, medical waste, etc.

When I was a kid, it was common to empty outhouses every so many years and spread it out in a field to dry in the sun. Once it had dried it would then be spread on the hay fields.

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by pteridine

 

I am seeing a lot more onsite WWT in industrial settings today, it was practically unheard of 20 years ago. This has cut a lot of hazardous waste out of the municipal load.

Large corporations can save money by treating onsite vs paying fees to municipal facilities. If they have large amounts of organics in their waste stream, they can also recover costs by using methane to fire boilers or electric generators.

Depending on the size of the companies and the types of organics, methanogens can be used. This is a complicated operation and would require significant capital investment. Co-combustion of an organics stream with methane will allow some heat recovery and remove the organic. Most plants need steam and power and this is often better than paying to remove it some other way. Problems arise if, for example, the organic contains halogens [chlorine, bromine] because the products are corrosive to the combustor assembly. Another problem is temperature of combustion. When too much waste is co combusted or there is too much water present, the flame temperature can be lowered to the point of producing certain organics that are unwanted, such as hydrogen cyanide. Careful control must be maintained on any waste combustion operation.

reply to post by Nana2

My point I was trying to make earlier is that THESE days, as opposed to when everything was much more natural, human waste will contain more stuff than is ok to re-cycle.

I am just not sure how you expect me to respond to this...

If the problem with the 'stuff' that is now in human waste (which is a concept I can agree on) is the problem, then it is a problem due to its inherent danger to humans in the environment, right? I mean, that's what all the fuss over pollution in all its forms is, after all: a worry about its impact on humans. Now how can something that was already inside a human become so much more hazardous outside humans? How can something in intimate contact with tissues designed specifically to absorb materials suddenly become so much more deadly when it is no longer in such intimate contact?

Everything in human waste came out of a human. It apparently did not kill the human it came out of (else it would be hermetically sealed in a concrete tomb ... don't get me started on why we treat remains as though they were made of enriched plutonium), so what makes it so dangerous now?

The simple fact is, we as a society have been brainwashed to think of our waste as not only something to be disposed of, but something that is deadly. Nothing could be farther from the truth; all animal waste supports other lifeforms, from scavengers to insects to bacteria to plants. It is a part of a natural cycle.

Incidentally, all those toxins you mentioned will break back down (eventually) into the same thing they were before we started modifying, concentrating, and rearranging them. There are almost exactly the same number of atoms of the same elements on earth today as there was one million years ago: the same amount of carbon, arsenic, lead, mercury, etc., etc., etc. And there will be the same amount of these a million years from now, regardless of what we do.

The solution to pollution is dilution.

Fertilizing, spreading it out across a field, is dilution.

Shoving it into a crypt to contain it is not dilution... that's concentration.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by wutz4tom

Human Feces Used as Fertilizer Has Neighbors Fuming

www.nbcphiladelphia.com

Residents in a Lehigh County township are waging a battle against local farms that are using a fertilizer made from human feces.

Several Lynn Township, Pa. farmers use a bio-solid called “granulite” to fertilize their crops, according to township authorities. “Granulite” is sewage sludge turned into dried pellets, 30 percent of which is made of human waste.

Residents like Bill Schaffhouser fear the health effects when this chemically-treated sewage fertilizer seeps into the ground and water.
Angry townspeople in Lehigh County, Philadelphia, claim they cannot drink the water as the fertilizer made from human waste has seeped into the drinking water.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Farmers use human waste as fertiliser and has neighbours kicking up a stink.By Anna Edwards
UPDATED: 03:10 EST, 17 January 2012

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

Worried neighbours are fuming because they fear chemically-treated human faeces used as fertilizer is contaminating their food and water.Angry townspeople in Lehigh County, Philadelphia, claim they cannot drink the water as the fertilizer made from human waste has seeped into the drinking water.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

Read more at link below
more human waste being used??LINK

reply to post by wutz4tom

If you don't like human waste in your food, stay away from canned mushrooms.
Most canned mushrooms today come from China, and they use human waste compost in their mushroom growing media.
Link