[Newsbot]

Title: Earth Day: Is sewage sludge safe for farm fields'
Category: Science
Posted By: Regina
Date: 2014-04-22 07:29:54
Canadian

[DrCaleb]

I hope people will come around to the idea of using a safe economical product to grow crops; rather than destroying it. There is only so much phopshorus in the world, and if we don't recycle it we'll lose it. 'Peak Phosphorus' will make 'Peak Oil' look like a kids birthday party.

[BartSimpson]

Sewage is used in farm fields all over the world where the workers just drop trou instead of walking off to do their thing.

I don't see why it would not be useful *if* the heavy metals and etc. are removed from it.

[Regina]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milorganite

Golf courses have been using that stuff for years. It also has an unofficial use as deer retardant. We think nothing of putting manure in gardens but some have an issue with this.

[DrCaleb]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Sewage is used in farm fields all over the world where the workers just drop trou instead of walking off to do their thing.

Japanese had been putting human waste directly on rice fields for hundreds of years, back in the feudal days. Many countries still do it now.

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

I don't see why it would not be useful *if* the heavy metals and etc. are removed from it.

Human and animal waste can contain relatively similar levels of Chromium, Nickle and Lead. Things that might already be in the soil naturally.

[RNG]

Several things I have read makes me more concerned by the number of people who apparently just flush unused pharmaceuticals down the toilet. And all this gets into rivers and oceans. Fish in the Bow River in Calgary apparently have levels of human estrogen high enough that some biologists fear it will start affecting their ability to spawn. I don't know if this is secreted by women taking BC pills as a usual measure or not. But there have been other reports about drug traces in sewage treatment plant effluent. So, do we want that on the fields that grow our food?

The crap itself doesn't bother me.

[Jabberwalker]

It's safer on our soil than flushing it into our fresh water supply, which is the traditional way of making our sewage "go away". Around these parts, human waste is used on Christmas tree farms and tree plantations so that there is little chance of pathogens getting passed on.

[herbie]

Is that part of the Economic Action Plan?
250,000 NightSoil Collectors will be needed by 2025. Start your training now...

[Jabberwalker]

No shit, eh?

[ShepherdsDog]

And I thought Andy wasn't employable.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Just in case some of the more "eggheaded" here are interested, this is a Canadian study submitted in 2010. It's kind'a long and they did admit it was as limited as their meager funding but it looks like the antibacterial compounds triclosan and triclocarban, and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin could be problematic as far as frequency of occurrence and concentrations.

http://www.ccme.ca/assets/pdf/pn_1448_b ... inal_e.pdf