Who monitors this waste before it leaves the
facility? Is it the MPCA or the City or someone else?
Who monitors and tests the sludge that is spread on
the fields?
I know how it works with feedlots but not with city
sludge.
Are there maps of where the sludge gets
spread? If so, who has them?
I worry some people think that sewage treatment
plants are this miracle place where everything gets "clean." That is not
the case.
Dwayne Voegeli
May 3, 2006
============
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 11:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Winona] RE: waste planning
[Winona Online Democracy]
The recent discussion thread has
largely been about land use planning, and current activities at both the city
and county center
on updating zoning ordinances and
comprehensive land use plans. The topic of feedlot planning has
certainly gotten much press too. What's missing is a discussion of how we
handle the increase in sewage waste that comes with growth, particularly in an
area with all the known karst features we have in the rural Winona
area.
The past couple of weeks city "slinger"
trucks have been passing my house almost non-stop. These trucks come from
the city waste water treatment plant and carry dry concentrated sewage
sludge which they spread on rural crop lands. This concentrated
sewage sludge includes such things as human waste, medical compounds, heavy
metals, industrial by-products, and anything humans flush down their toilets or
pour down their sinks. The crop lands which
receive this sludge grow food for animals (dairy, beef, pork) and
humans. Ironically, these trucks were even hauling on Earth
Day.
What will be the long term effect to our
community and the health of those who might unknowingly consume food grown on
fields of sewage sludge? Who monitors the rate at which it is
spread?
It seems that all talk of long-term
land use planning is for naught if we first don't find a more
environmentally sustainable way to handle our waste products. Don't
we first need to find land uses and waste handling systems that utilize respect
for the economy and environment when we talk about long range
planning?
Mike Kirschmann
PS The liquid components from the waste water
treatment plant are "treated" and then diluted by pumping them into the
Mississippi.
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