Blaming sewage sludge for illnesses, critics called Wednesday for a ban on spreading the treated human waste as fertilizer.
“I?d like to call an immediate moratorium on the sludge spreading until there?s scientific evidence that concludes it?s safe for public health,” said Barbara Rubin, a Waterford, Va., resident who contracted pneumonia and laryngitis soon after sludge was spread in her neighborhood.
The Carlyle Group, based in Washington, bought sludge-spreader Synagro Technologies Inc. a year ago. And since then, the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly 2 million hospital, public service and building service workers, has cited complaints from communities throughout the country about the health effects of sewage sludge.
Sludge — waste flushed down toilets or washed down drains, then treated at a wastewater treatment plant — is often offered to farmers as free fertilizer, and about 440,000 tons is spread in Maryland each year, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.
About a dozen people who blamed sludge for illnesses joined community activists and town officials from Baltimore, Pennsylvania and Virginia in expressing concerns about health effects. Christopher Ullman, a spokesman for Carlyle, sought to allay the concerns.
“I met with the group and listened to their concerns and requested that they send documentation and we would work with the company to make sure the company is addressing their concerns,” Ullman said.
He said SEIU orchestrated the act to gain public attention to try to force Carlyle to unionize Manor Care, a major nursing home company Carlyle owns.
“These are stunts to put pressure on Carlyle so we will force unionization on a company that the unions are trying to unionize, which has repeatedly failed,” Ullman said.
Glenn Ross, a Baltimore urban environmental activist, said sludge is disproportionately spread on poor black communities.
The group also met with staff for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and staff for Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. Boxer?s committee is expected to hold hearings this summer to investigate the health effects of the land application of sewage sludge.
