Al4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 25,1980
Sludge brings farmers, gov’t people together
BY SHEILA MILLER
HERSHEY - It looked
like a basket stuffed with
apples and oranges as dose
to 100 fanners and govern
ment personnel filled a log
cabin meeting room to the
seams, here at Camp Milton
on Wednesday.
It was strictly standing
room only as the interested
participants in a sewage
sludge forum listened in
tently as local experts told
about the how’s, why’s and
wherefore’s of using the
waste on agricultural land.
Penn State’s Raymond F.
Shipp, an associate
professor of agronomy and
co-author of Special Circular
255, Land Application of
Sewage Sludge for Crop
Production, recommended
to fanners interested m
applying sludge to their land
that they “know what’s in
the sludge.”
He pointed out that
“sludge is as effective as
livestock manure and
chemical fertilizers and
should be recognized as an
alternative resource for
growing crops.” However,
he stressed the fact that
sludge is not a complete
fertilizer being low in
potassium, with only a
somewhat higher analysis
for nitrogen and phosphorus.
Another reason farmers
should be aware of what is in
the sludge is because of
potentially harmful heavy
metal content. He referred
to Special Circular 255 and
noted the recommended
lifetime application rates for
zinc, copper, chromium,
lead, nickel, and cadmium.
These rates, he said,
comply with the regulations
of state and federal en
vironmental agencies. If
sludge is found to contain a
harmful amount of metals,
there is “no refinement
procedure to treat sludge
that’s cost effective to get it
to meet the Department of
Environmental Resources
standards.”
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state’s environmental
agency, DER, were on hand
to pass along the
bureaucratic reasons for
where, when, how much and
how long sludge can be used
for agricultural purposes.
They pointed out the rules
governing land application
of sludge are not new. The
original regulations were
spelled out in Act 241, and
were recently incorporated
m this year’s Act 97. The
DER representative
clarified the fact that the
rules have not changed - and
Chapter 75 regulations are
still the guidelines for the
use of sewage sludge and
septic tank waste.
In order for sludge to be
applied to farm land, an
application must be sub
mitted to DER and a permit
must be issued by the
department. It was pointed
out that usually the ap
plication is submitted by the
local sewage plant or
municipality. •-
In the several months it
takes for a permit to be
issued, DER makes sure the
application site complies
with all the criteria.
Soil profiles are checked to
make sure the sludge will be
incorporated without con
taminating groundwater or
flowing off bedrock. The
land on which the sludge is to
be applied cannot exceed a
12 percent slope unless the
cropland is to be no-tilled.
The pH of the soil must be 6.5
or higher. And the ap
plication of the sludge
cannot create vector or
insect problems.
When the sludge is being
applied, the state governs
how close it can be spread to
a number of areas. They
spell out that no sludge can
be applied within 100 feet of
streams, 300 feet of wells or
water sources, 25 feet of
bedrock outcrop, 50 feet of
property lines, or 300 feet
from an occupied dwelling.
And after the sludge is
applied, detailed records
must be maintained for at
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RD2, NEW PROVIDENCE, PA
least two years after the last
application. The soils are
required to be sampled
annually, and the DER
representatives recom
mended more frequent tests.
The DER representatives
noted that conservation
practices are carefully
scrutinized when reviewing
sludge applications. “We
look at surface water
management; and if we see
any erosion gullies, we think
twice about issuing a permit
or put severe restrictions on
it.”
For farmers interested in
spreading sludge on pasture,
the DER representatives
said it was doubtful. They
pointed out present
regulations restrict grazing
for 2 months after the sludge
is applied. And m most
cases, pastures are on land
that is off-drained so it
wouldn’t meet the standards
anyway.
First hand experience in
coordinating a sludge ap
plication program with local
farmers was presented by
William Horst of the City of
Lancaster’s Sewage
Operations.
He told the group the
sludge at the Lancaster
plant is analyzed every six
months. With a limit of 2.06
tons per acre application
rate (maximum due to zinc
content), the sludge will
provide 54 pounds of
nitrogen per acre along with
100 pounds of phosphorus per
acre, Horst explained.
The Lancaster Plant, he
said, produces 100 dry tons of
sludge each month. Over the
past summer, a pilot
program was started with
several farmers where
sludge application was
tested. Now the plant is
hoping to cooperate with
farmers within an 8 mile
radius for the disposal of the
waste.
With a truck called the Big
A, Horst said the plant has
the potential of applying 80
tons of sludge in an hour. The
truck, equipped with
SWINE
BEEF
" <r
Nearly 100 farmers and government personnel Iboked on as the Big A sliced
sludge into a Milton Hershey farm field on Wednesday during a sludge seminar.
flotation tires, injects the
sludge at a depth of between
12 mches and 18 inches and
handles the sludge as a semi
hqmd.
The group of farmers and
government officials then
went out to a neighboring
Milton Hershey farm to
watch a sludge injection
demonstration. They wat
ched as the largest model
injector of its type cut the
sludge into the ground with a
roar and a belching of diesel
smoke.
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