LETTER – Government needs to wake up and smell the biosolids
(Image: File photo, Mel Rothenburger)
Re: Editorial – Bold action is required to find the answer to biosolids issue
I wrote to you two summers ago when we were being surrounded by class B biosolids just 30 meters from our home on Robbins Range Rd.
Thank you for coming around to addressing this issue!!!
We lived through what no property owner should have to live through and the amounts of biosolids being applied were nowhere near what is planned for Turtle Valley.
The mixture across from us was admittedly (by Sylvia) was high in moisture content and smelled a lot more potent than they even expected. It was a moist muddy “product” that could be seen on the cows noses who were grazing just 60 days after the Sludge was spread! To say no water is affected is to say water won’t run downhill. There were streams from the run off running right through the stockpiles that were dumped in the fall. Running into local creeks and eventually will make its way down to larger water sources. Not to mention our own well.
I attended the protests and will continue to support the Turtle Valley group in hopes that Arrows plan for the bison ranch will not be followed through, and many levels of government will come together and do some investigating. I will continue to support them so that the future of the rancher near us does not include spreading biosolids on grazing land for his cattle.
Things need to change. The province needs to wake up and smell the……. well it’s not coffee we’ll all be smelling!
Thanks again for covering this important matter.
SARAH LaBOUNTY
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Tony Brumell — the issue is that biosolids are no longer just “Critter crap”, or Human Crap for that matter. There is so much non-organic content in today’s biosolids along with heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, THOUSANDS of chemicals that are not tested for individually and most certainly have never been tested for with regard to their interactions with any and all of the changeable contents in today’s biosolids. What you suggest is spread this on clear cuts away from habitation — I don’t know a wild critter that can read that they should not graze or eat any of the vegetation produced on that land. You also make no reference to the one (of potentially MANY) killers in biosolids: Prions. They can not be killed other than by extreme high heat incineration and then being rendered immobile. If a animal comes into contact with a malformed prion they will develop oh — maybe mad cow disease, or chronic wasting disease and perhaps this untreated prion get into OUR food chain causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. ALL of these prion caused diseases have been documented in animals and humans, all are progressive neurodegenerative conditions in animals and humans and all of them are fatal.
Under no circumstances can the biosolids of today be spread on the earth or in our waterways or the oceans.
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I’m sorry Pat that I regard this as a community problem and would offer possible solutions to same .I do not believe that CJD prions have ever been discovered in human Biosolids and CWD hasn’t been found in domestic animals in several tears. The last time prions were discovered in domestic animals I believe 200,000 turkeys died and were incinerated along with all the waste products.One cow was found to have CWD in Alberta and China cut off all trade in same until virtually the entire Alberta herd was killed and incinerated.It seems that the contols on Prions is significant.Most metals can be detected and removed ,but it is expensive.The cities of origin is often the clue about metal content. Kamloops is not a highly industrialised city and as such the heavy metal content is quite low.If heavy metals are detected then the bisolids can be burned or pyrolized.
I won’t continue this any farther because I recognize a brick wall when I run into one.
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Tony Brummell.. well let me be the first to tell you that what you are saying and believing is wrong… completely wrong… well except for the part of putting it in the rivers… that is essentially what land application does…
There is no way to eliminate the toxins in sewage sludge… that’s where they are concentrated due to the water treatment.
Spreading this stuff on clearcut blocks away from habitation ??
Where do you think the animals live??
Time for you Tony to educate yourself on this issue…
What needs to be done is build a few pyrolysis plants and turn this Never Ending supply of toxic waste into power … anything less is not sustainable and actually quite disgusting and dangerous…
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This letter, from someone who has lived through the nightmare of having Class B biosolids dumped next to her home, puts the lie to the propaganda (promulgated by the biosolids and wastewater industry) that biosolids is a “beneficial” product with an “earthy” smell.” People who live in the country don’t have a problem with “earth.” They do, however, have a problem when their nostrils and lungs are overpowered by the reek of bacteria, viruses, chemicals, plastics and microfibres being literally shoved down their throats as “fertilizer.” The Turtle Valley residents are thus trying to save themselves from living a similar or even worse nightmare. Thanks to ”Mayor” Rothenburger for his attention to this.
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Please excuse my understanding . I seem to remember farmers and stock people spreading their “Critter crap” on fields to ferilize future crop growth.I don’t think anything stinks worse that pig ferttilizer But remembering bact to other years it seems to me that rotting pea vines are every bit as bad..There are times in AG. country when the land stinks. If you don’t like the smells asociated with agriculture why did you move into farm country ??.
My stance here doesn’t mean that I think that bio solids should be spread anywhere near residences.But it is nor precident setting. As long as we produce waste we must dispose of it. Do you want to keep putting it into our rivers ? Even after treatment there are aspects and residuals that are detrimental to the health of rivers,lakes and the critters that live ( and eliminate ) in them.I strongly believe that biosolids are a huge super valuable resourcwe but they must be used properly. If they were spread it on clearcut blocks ,away from habitation I believe this (while expensive ) would solve and (excuse the term ) eliminate much of the problem.Virtually all of the toxins in biosoilids can and must be eliminated so a class one product can be distributed into safe areas.
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