Kern County’s Public Health Services Department announced January 18, 2010 that it will immediately begin enforcement of the voter approved “anti-sludge ordinance“.
Sludge means spreading biosolids (treated solid, semi-solid or liquid residue generated during the treatment of sewage) over marginal land within the unincorporated areas of Kern County to make the fields more fertile.
In other words, other people’s crap, most of it trucked in from Los Angeles. Since 1999 LA has sent about 26 tractor trailer loads a day of its biosolids to a 4,700 acre piece of land owned by the city in Kern County. The land, a 15-acre parcel 15 miles southwest of Bakersfield, is known as “Green Acres”.
In undeveloped countries biosolids are called “night soil” collected by some poor guy coming around in the dead of night to collect the family’s “honey bucket”. They’ve been doing it for millennia in Asia.
Here we use biosolids to fertilize ground for crops used for animal feed. Yet spreading all this yucky stuff onto farmland may allow heavy metals, pathogenic organisms, chemical pollutants, and synthetic organic compounds to leach into the aquifer. Think about drinking water from that aquifer.
Virtually all of the sewage sludge processed in Los Angeles — and about one-third of California’s — is trucked into Kern County. Los Angeles may soon have to find a new dumping ground for its sewage sludge. There are alternatives, but expensive ones.
Los Angeles aims to be the greenest, cleanest city in America. But, Kern County Public Health Director, Matt Constantine, says there is mounting concern about the environmental and health impacts this sludge poses to Kern residents.
“Heavy metals, about nuisances, odors, flies. What impact, short-term and long-term does this present to our community?” asked Constantine. Good question.
But wait. There’s a big however here
Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or not more than six months in prison, or both, for each day of violation. An offender may also be required to pay for cleanup and disposal costs and may be subjected to significant administrative penalties for each day the violation occurs.
And existing permit holders have six months to discontinue the land application of biosolids. Wonder what could happen to stall the voter’s clear intentions in the next six months?
Well, with a fine of no more than $500 a day, and some twisty-turning conniving so there’s no prison time, this is a toothless ordinance. And with layoffs at the county and the wretched state of California’s economy, how much enforcement will there be?
Permit holders can just add a load or so a day to cover the fine. As for paying for clean up, it could be tied up in the courts for years and meanwhile we’re still taking other people’s crap.