What are biosolds you ask? They are nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility. When treated and processed, these residuals can be recycled and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth. (CWWA – Canadian Water and Wastewater Association). Who would have thought that our sewage actually serves a purpose? Many of us don’t know what happened to the water from storm drains, after we flush the toilet, wash our hands in the sink or take a shower. The use of biosolids as fertilizers is a very effective alternative to traditional fertilizers for numerous reasons.
-It is a sustainable source
For as long as people wash their hands, take showers, use the toilet and produce sewage, there will be biosolids.
-They are just as safe chemical fertilizers:
Before biosolids can be applied to use on land, they must meet strict regulations regarding their disposal as well as their amounts of metals and pathogens.
-They are good for plants.
Biosolids contain large quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus that are necessary for crop growth.
-What else would we do with our sewage?
If we didn’t use biosolids for plant fertilization they would be put in a landfill where would take up space and release harmful toxins into the atmosphere.
Despite all of the above advantages of the application of biosolids for land use, many people still just aren’t convinced that they should be used.
-Biosolids smell bad.
As a result of the ammonia in biosolids, they give off an unpleasant odour. The intensity of the odour depends on the type of treatment used.
-Biosolids contain pathogens which can find their way from crops into groundwater and eventually pose significantly harmful risks to the environment as well as human health.
Pathogens are organisms such as bacteria, and parasites that carry diseases. Pathogens are present in sewage, however with the very strict regulations regarding the land applications of biosolids, pathogens are removed in the secondary treatment in the waste water treatment process.
The above points are more misconceptions than they are disadvantages to biosolids. Many of the “disadvantages” of the use biosolids can just as easily be used to describe the use of cow manure in our gardens. Cow manure has an unpleasant odour just like biosolids and it also contains pathogens. Our opinion regarding the use of biosolids is apparent in the use of Toronto’s biosolids in 2008.
41% ended up in a landfill.
23% was incinerated.
Only 11% went towards land application.
So why are we so against the use of biosolids? They’re sustainable, safe for humans and the environment, good for plants, a safer alternative to chemical fertilizers and they save landfill space, there are virtually no disadvantages. I think we are influenced too much by the western view of human waste as unsanitary and disgusting. People find the use of biosolids to be unsettling and don’t like the idea of their sewage being used to grow the vegetables they eat. I think people need to accept the circle of life in a sense that and see it as just a natural process of decomposition, fertilization. At times like these, we can’t afford to be wasteful in any way. By choosing not to use biosolids we’re taking perfectly good sustainability for our crops and flushing it down the toilet!
Works Cited
http://www.cwwa.ca/faqbiosolids_e.asp
http://www.toronto.ca/water/biosolids/index.htm
http://www.toronto.ca/water/biosolids/quality.htm
