Not in my Backyard !

[Pine Strip]

That's Human Bio-Solids ... and I'm almost too close for comfort.

 

[oosik]

You will find that this is the way septic pumpers handle the disposal of their "load" in many areas. It is sprayed on the ground and immediately disked in with tractor & disk. It does require that the land be farm land and in use. There are MANY requirements for this type operation and properly done presents a far superior option for disposal. I was Director of Env Health in a totally farming area and was intimately involved in this type operation and even MUCH larger types.

 

[mfreund]

That is what everyone says......Where should it go? The waste has been tested for pathogens and is likely less harmless than the air you normally breathe. If they are already spreading it, they have waded through mountains of regulations, miles of red tape, and the easiest way to get way from it is to move.

I have a large Hog Farm near me. The world needs food and I would rather catch a faint whiff for 24 hrs once a year than to have neighbors for the other 364 days.

Around here the local septic tank pumpers take the load to be processed at a large waste water treatment plant. It is illegal to "dispose" of it any other way. They are audited and need to show where it came from and where it went.

 

[oosik]

AH, HA You assume the operation is legit!! A call to the county health dept can verify this. When I started work at the Health Dept there were a couple pumpers causing serious problems with their dumping. This situation became a health priority and ended with one individual serving a jail term and the other going out of business. Unless you have knowledge otherwise - do not assume the operation is legit. The local health dept should have knowledge of this operation. And yes, in more urban areas it is normal that the "load" be taken to the local sewage treatment facility for processing.

Part of living in the county is and will always be - unusual sewage disposal practices - not previously experienced by urban folks - - large operations raising animals, be it horses, cows, pigs etc and even sewage disposal facilities. All of these practices are legislated to the rural areas by our elected officials because urban folks don't really appreciate the activities.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

AH, HA You assume the operation is legit!! A call to the county health dept can verify this. When I started work at the Health Dept there were a couple pumpers causing serious problems with their dumping. This situation became a health priority and ended with one individual serving a jail term and the other going out of business. Unless you have knowledge otherwise - do not assume the operation is legit. The local health dept should have knowledge of this operation. And yes, in more urban areas it is normal that the "load" be taken to the local sewage treatment facility for processing.

Part of living in the county is and will always be - unusual sewage disposal practices - not previously experienced by urban folks - - large operations raising animals, be it horses, cows, pigs etc and even sewage disposal facilities. All of these practices are legislated to the rural areas by our elected officials because urban folks don't really appreciate the activities.

I too worked for the Health Department, and recall a case where the pumper was disposing of his waste, I believe in a storm sewer. I have heard, since I retired, of some very bad groundwater contamination by the CAFO (swine) facilities. I also believe it is legal for the cattle feeding operations to spread their manure on crop land, untreated.

 

[oosik]

While I was Director of EH(16 years) in Anchorage we had many pumpers because the majority of the population lived beyond public sewer and our ground conditions were not that favorable for on-site disposal. However, into every life a little sun must shine and in this case its a humorous story - at least it was for us in the health field. One of the large communication companies in Anchorage put their communication sub-stations in below ground "bunkers". And you know whats coming - the above ground entrance looked EXACTLY like a sewer manhole. The cost to the pumping company(beyond their insurance coverage) to affect repairs to that facility put them out of business. Can you imagine the first worker who opened the lid to that communication bunker after 1500 gal of raw sewage had been dumped. I had heard that the pumper exited the scene prior to the communication company arrival but they were to identify the guilty party thru some means. Needless to say, the entrances to below ground communication facilities were immediately & plainly identified.

 

[teejk]

The larger cities have made a profitable business of selling their dried sludge as fertilizer (Milorganite is one). That is of course dried. Otherwise our DNR allows the practice with limits as to how much and how often. Being as this is largely from residential septic systems, it is unlikely to contain industrial waste. Btw many of our cheese factories get rid of their whey in much the same manner although most now extract as much of the proteins as they can (I did some consulting work for one of them that in some years had to make cheese solely to get the whey powder...big money in that stuff when combined with the cost of disposing of raw whey).

 

[jinman]

I have a cattle yard about 10 miles from my house in Bowie, TX. It has great 30-50 yard mounds of manure in piles in the pens. Sometimes you see cattle playing king-of-the-mountain on those piles. The facility is on the side of a hill and all it's runoff drains into a large pond about 2 acres in size. The grass around that pond sure is green. I suspect the sun and biological activities in the pond pretty well purify the runoff, but in the photo below the manure mounds are quite visible. Who knows? They may all be compost piles and not solid manure, but after a rain or when the wind is from the northwest, a drive along Hwy 287 sure is an aromatic experience.



Just out of curiosity and because we seem to have some experts here, I have a question. What is the ratio of actual solids to liquids in sewage? My guess is the actual solid material starts out around 20% and then through anaerobic or aerobic decomposition, it falls way below that to maybe 5% or even less.

 

[Dr Dave]

Around here, it is saposed to be injected, or disked under within 24 hours.

We had farmer across the road who would hall sludge from the sewage treatment plant, in his owm semi tanker, he would hall for weeks before disking it under. Every one complained, but nobody did anything ahout it.

Some one called the DOT, because the truck would get stuck alot, and he would pull it out onto the highway with his 4x4 JD. He left mud for miles.The fine was steep and they made him clean the highway. We never saw the truck again.:cool2:

 

[turnkey4099]

That is what everyone says......Where should it go? The waste has been tested for pathogens and is likely less harmless than the air you normally breathe. If they are already spreading it, they have waded through mountains of regulations, miles of red tape, and the easiest way to get way from it is to move.

I have a large Hog Farm near me. The world needs food and I would rather catch a faint whiff for 24 hrs once a year than to have neighbors for the other 364 days.

Around here the local septic tank pumpers take the load to be processed at a large waste water treatment plant. It is illegal to "dispose" of it any other way. They are audited and need to show where it came from and where it went.

Same here. The big company even built it's one plant to process it...at a cost to the consumer of about 3x what we had been paying to get a tank pumped. EPA and stupid people win again!!

Harry K