-----
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 10:07 AM
Subject: MANCHESTER UNION LEADER, NH - MAY 24, 2000 - SLUDGE COMPOST SICKENS
CHILDREN AND TEACHERS - BFI SAYS "IT'S NOT SLUDGE ANYMORE" !!
(2005 UPDATE: “BFI” is now New England Organics/Casella Waste Systems . . . . )
>
> http://www.theunionleader.com/ CLICK HERE FOR PICTURE AND FRONT PAGE
> STORY
>
> "It's not sludge anymore," said marketing manager John Kelly. Any
> sludge has been eaten by bacteria, he said."
>
> City's golfers given a break - but students
> pay the price
> By DEREK ROSE
> Union Leader Staff
>
> A stinking pile of
> compost was dumped
> across from a
> Manchester elementary
> school in part because
> city officials did not
> want to disturb golfers.
> The odoriferous
> mound had school
> students and staff
> shuttered in
> classrooms, with some
> complaining of
> headaches. One
> asthmatic teacher said it
> burned her nose and lungs, and there were disputed reports
> of
> students vomiting Thursday morning.
> Jenna Hughes, 12, covered her face with her shirt as she
> walked across the McDonough School playground late
> yesterday.
> "It's burning my eyes," she said with a grimace.
> Soon the playground was empty, as the rank pile of
> compost
> was removed, stirring up one last foul cloud of odor.
> Ed Wojnilowicz, recreation enterprise manager ... Full
NEW HAMPSHIRE, MANCHESTER UNION LEADER MAY 24, 2000
VICTIMS SUFFER BURNING EYES, NOSES AND THROATS, HEADACHES, NAUSEA, BREATHING PROBLEMS
City's golfers given a break - but students pay the price
By DEREK ROSE Union Leader Staff
A stinking pile of compost was dumped across from a Manchester elementary school in part because city
officials did not want to disturb golfers.
The odoriferous mound had school students and staff
shuttered in classrooms, with some complaining of headaches. One asthmatic teacher said it burned her nose and
lungs, and there were disputed reports of students vomiting Thursday morning.
Jenna Hughes, 12, covered her face with her shirt as she walked across the McDonough School playground
late yesterday.
"It's burning my eyes," she said with a grimace.
Soon the playground was empty, as the rank pile of compost was removed, stirring up
one last foul cloud of odor.
Ed Wojnilowicz, recreation enterprise manager with the parks and recreation department, said the two
truckloads of compost were stored across from
the elementary school for use at the Derryfield Country Club. Keeping the pile at the
club would have been disruptive, he said.> "It's just a matter of logistics," he said. "We're running an
operating golf course, and we've set up temporary tees and greens for 18-hole play." Wojnilowicz said the area used
was convenient; it is less than two city blocks from the golf course.
After complaints from school staff, the pile was removed late yesterday by employees of Ted Bantis Trucking,
the contractor on the golf course project. Bantis said the material might be placed at the course.
The pile was dumped at a city-owned grassy area at Lowell and Weston streets Thursday morning, to the
dismay of neighbors.
"It's here, it stinks, it's disgusting, especially at dusk," said Laurie Zografos. "It makes you want to puke, to tell
you the truth."
The high-grade compost contains treated organic material
from Maine waste water treatment plants.
James Ecker, vice president of New England Organics of
Falmouth, Maine, acknowledged the compost is derived from treated human
waste. But he said it is subjected to high temperatures for three days and then tested to
ensure it is pathogen-free. "It's not sludge anymore," said marketing manager John
Kelly. Any sludge has been eaten by bacteria, he said.
He and Ecker said the product is perfectly safe, and Tim Soucy, chief of environmental health with the city of
Manchester, said the material apparently meets standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
New Hampshire
Department of Environmental Service. A DES representative took samples Friday.
The only problem, Ecker and Kelly said, is the odor. "It stinks, you know. Like if you dumped horse manure,"
said Ron Ludwig, director of parks and recreation. "It has an odor we're not always used to in the city these days."
"We're trying to deal with educating kids, keeping them focused on learning towards the end of the year, and
this is a big distraction," said Jill LeMay, the principal, who is also concerned about a much larger pile of dirt from
construction at West High School's athletic fields.
The odor is strongest when the compost is disturbed. And
when the pile was dumped near the school Thursday morning, the smell and a white cloud
were blown toward the school playground, where students were outside.
As people caught a whiff, teacher Wendy Black said, the school was quickly "locked down" as if in some kind
of emergency drill. Black said that as students and staff beat a hasty retreat from the nasty smell, someone yelled out,
"The children are getting sick!"
Exactly whether students did vomit from the odor is not clear, however.
LeMay and school nurse Pat Marsh-Thorell said they did not. "There were absolutely no students who came to
the school nurse's office ill,"
Marsh-Thorell said. She said she didn't see any students vomiting or any vomit outside.
"I'm not saying there weren't people who were feeling nauseous," Marsh-Thorell said.
Still, a group of students playing on the jungle gym after school said about eight students vomited.
"That was disgusting," recalled Jason Savoie, 10, who said he got sick "a little bit."
Fellow student Dustin Edson said he came close to throwing up. "I was about to, but then my teacher told me
to go get a drink of water." Three teachers separately told The Union Leader they had been
informed students had vomited, but none actually saw anyone get sick.
New England Organic's Ecker said company employees work
with the material 250 days a year without ill effect. "People get sick and kids get
sick," he said. "I find it highly unlikely that they got sick over this."
About noon, a reporter found the odor mildly offensive,> but hardly overwhelming. But when the material was
moved about 5 p.m., he found the odor difficult to bear.
Ecker described the material as "Grade A" biosolids - different from the lime-stabilized sludge, or Class B
biosolids, that are sometimes applied to gravel pits and farmland under strict health and safety rules. There are no
rules for applying this material, he said. But there are voluntary guidelines, which Kelly said pertain to being a good
neighbor and are not motivated by health concerns.The guidelines include, "Avoid storage in densely
populated areas," "use your best judgment in determining prevailing winds and weather
conditions," and "in particularly densely populated or high public-use areas, inform
neighbors of the intended application dates."
Three neighbors and the school principal in the fairly densely populated neighborhood all
said they were not informed the compost pile would be there.
"They didn't say a word," said neighbor Steve Wall. "Not a word." Kelly said contractors generally
immediately mix the compost with five times as much high-quality sand, neutralizing the odor. But he did not find fault
with the city or the contractor.
"I don't think it's fair to say that anyone didn't follow the guidelines or the mixing formula," said Kelly. "They're
suggestions on our part, not a requirement." Bantis said weather prevented his workers from mixing all of the
compost immediately, so
they have been mixing as they need the material. "It got so wet and mucky in here," he said.
"The weather didn't really cooperate with us." Also, the manufacturer of the special sand had problems
supplying it, he said.
Wojnilowicz said the compost will be used on Holes 8 and
12 and Green 7. "This has such a high nutrition value," he said, adding he would love
to use it on his garden. He said he "highly doubted" the city would use the site
again for compost. "I'm going to try to find a better site and utilize that."
> ************************************************************
Helane's note: EPA DOCUMENTS USE THE WORDS "SEWAGE SLUDGE" AND
"BIOSOLIDS" INTERCHANGEABLY. THE WORDS MEAN THE SAME THING UNDER FEDERAL SLUDGE LAWS.
THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASS A SEWAGE SLUDGE AND CLASS B SEWAGE SLUDGE IS THE LEVEL OF
PATHOGENS.
HERE IS WHAT EPA HAS TO SAY ABOUT DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN CLASS A
SEWAGE SLUDGE AND CLASS B SEWAGE SLUDGE:
F. 503.32 Pathogens TABLE B. - Fecal Coliform-
1. If less than 1000 CFU or MPN calculated geometric mean of the 7
or more samples, you have a Class A sludge.
2. If less than 2,000,000 CFU or MPN calculated geometric mean of
the 7 or more samples, you have a Class B sludge.
3. If greater than 2,000,000 CFU or MPN must either surface
dispose, add a blending agent or treat the sludge to reduce pathogens