Residents in East Penn Township choose to stay indoors, even on a nice day, because they are concerned about a nearby farm’s use of sewage sludge.
Also known as biosolids, the substance is generated at wastewater treatment plants. In this case, it's applied to agricultural land as a fertilizer.
“Whether you’re going to look at your flowers or wash your car … you have a wall of stench that you have to battle,” resident John Courgis said.
“I have a very hard time breathing when I smell it,” said resident Brenda German, who has chronic COPD. “My doctor recommended that I’m either homebound or I move because of it.”
Residents gathered Monday to discuss the issue after seeing trucks of biosolids driving to a nearby property. They say farmers apply the sludge two to four times a year.
Linda Christman is president of Save Carbon County, an environmental advocacy group.
“The problem is if you live next to it you never know when it’s going to happen,” she said. “You can’t plan a backyard wedding or a barbecue or anything because you might wake up and [find] that’s the day they decided to put sludge on their field.”
The group believes the odor is a beacon to other potential health harms that haven’t yet been discovered.
“If you’re smelling it you’re breathing it,” Christman added.
What’s in sewage sludge?
During the wastewater treatment process, liquids are separated from solids. The solid substance is then treated physically and chemically to form nutrient-rich biosolids, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Save Carbon County is asking for more stringent regulation to learn what it’s made up of, including weekly testing for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), chemicals that have proven to be harmful to humans and animals.
“Nobody knows what’s in it because the state only tests about five chemicals and they only test that twice a year,” Christman said. “That’s useless because sewage sludge is going to change every day.”
The EPA is currently studying the scope of PFAS exposure and its effects.
The law
East Penn Township tried to keep sewage sludge out in 2018 with an ordinance when the farm first applied for a permit to use biosolids.
The State Attorney General’s office found that the ordinance violated the Agricultural Communities and Rural Environment (ACRE) law and it was repealed.
The use of biosolids is protected under Pennsylvania’s Right to Farm Law. The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) noted in a 2017 report that land application is the most inexpensive way to dispose of biosolids, and that Pennsylvania’s regulations are “generally in line with the requirements in other states.”
"I believe that the farmer who uses the sludge very much believes that it's OK, and that it's scientific farming," Christman said.
Save Carbon County brought a resolution to all 22 municipalities in the county. Passing the resolution, Christman said, would represent that local leaders want to have a say in the use of sewage sludge in each municipality.
“They are actually bound by the constitution to protect the health and welfare of their residents, and yet they can’t do anything about this,” Christman said.
