- Air Travel
- Aerial Application
- Asking for Alternatives
- Bee Die-off
- Bylaws »
- Children
- Children 2
- Climate Change
- 2,4-D
- Drugs- Pesticides in
- Economics of Pesticide Use
- Food - Pesticides in
- Food, Pesticides in p.2
- Forestry /urban trees - Pesticides in
- Formulants/Inerts and Contaminants
- GMOs
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- Hazards of Living Close to Sprayed Fields
- Human Rights
- Lawn/ Turf including Golf courses
- Mosquito control - WNV- Zika
- Organics
- Pesticide Drift
- Resistance
- Treated Wood
- Water
- Sewage Sludge
Sewage Sludge
also see Pesticides in soils
Biosolid Biohazard: EPA Sued for Failing to Protect Farmers and Public from PFAS-Contaminated Biosolids (Beyond Pesticides, June 27, 2024) 'Earlier this month, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of a group of ranchers and farmers in Texas harmed by biosolids contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).' 'EPA estimates more than 2.4 million tons of biosolids, or sewage sludge, are applied as fertilizers on farms, homes, parks, and other lands across the U.S. annually. Biosolids result from the wastewater treatment process, which collects wastewater and greywater, including anything flushed down the drain from homes, businesses, and industries. Some of the industries that discharge to wastewater treatment plants include metal plating, pulp and paper mills, fabric, and plastics manufacturing. Wastewater may even include the liquid waste or “leachate” that oozes from landfills.' In Regina, this also includes the refinery. 'As reported in Nature in 2022, EPA has identified 726 chemicals and “structure-based classes” in the biosolids it has tested, including pesticides and drugs (and their associated metabolites), cosmetics, flame retardants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dioxins, and dibenzofurans. PFAS chemicals are not broken down during sewage treatment and yet biosolids are not currently tested for the presence of PFAS or other chemicals, outside of some heavy metals and pathogens.' SNAP Comment: According to PFAS and Biosolids: Status, technologies, and trends (2023) ''In addition, land application of biosolids divert a valuable organic product from the landfill. A common practice in both the United States and in Canada, it is particularly important to Ontarians as Ontario's landfills will reach the end of their lives within the next 10-12 years.' The use of sludge is rejected in organic farming because of heavy metal contamination. (Sludge By Any Name Will Never Be “Organic”, (Fall 2003). The City of Regina is now landfilling its sludge rather than sending it to be applied to farm fields because of its high contamination with heavy metals. Another legal option for disposal is incineration which likely releases the toxic pollutants in the air.