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Residents raise stink over human waste fertilizer spread on fields

 

 

By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

 

OSCEOLA, Ind. — Spreading human waste on farmland is causing a stink in one Indiana community, where a couple who lives close to where it is being applied are taking steps to safeguard the water they drink.

But the septic tank company is puzzled over the complaints because the state has given it permission to dispose of the septage – the material recovered from septic systems.

Sue and Ken Eakins of Osceola last month vowed to no longer drink their tap water without filtering it first and say it is difficult to shower because of the smell. The couple’s fears have eased some after learning the results of a test by the St. Joseph County Health Department.

‘’Our water tested safe to drink,’’ said Sue Eakins, whose home is about a third of a mile from the edge of the field where the septage is being applied.

The couple still wonder if there’s been some impact, saying their water never had a sulfur smell until five years ago and the odor seems to be getting stronger. They’ve lived there for close to 50 years and the septage began being spread in 2005, racking up what she estimated to be more a million gallons of septage in the soil during that period.

‘’It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but as a layman I just don’t get it,’’ said Eakins.

Harold Grubb, owner of Grubb’s Septic & Sewer Service in nearby Elkhart, said he’s doing everything required under law. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) agrees, saying a recent inspection in response to the complaint found no violations. "They are following the requirements,’’ added Barry Sneed, a spokesman with IDEM.

Grubb first obtained a permit from IDEM in 2005. Sneed said the permit must be renewed every three years and was last renewed in 2013. The only complaint registered with IDEM has been from the Eakins, who made five complaints in three weeks, he said.

Sneed said sulfur is commonly found naturally in groundwater and there’s no way the rotten egg smell associated with it in groundwater could come from the application of septage. The only problem septage could potentially cause, he said, is high levels of E. coli bacteria in the drinking water if, for some reason, the application of septage in a nearby field was too heavy.

Sneed said the application of septage is heavily restricted, with certain amounts that must be adhered to depending on the type of crop being grown in a field that’s receiving such human waste, to prevent groundwater contamination and septage from leaching into storm runoff.

For example, he said up to 76,000 gallons of septage is allowed per acre in a field growing corn and the limit for soybeans is 38,000 gallons per acre, based on factors such as the intake from the roots of different plants.

He also said there are guidelines for how fast septage can be applied to the ground, another safeguard to keep the material from getting into the water that drains from a field. "Sulfur would have nothing to do with septic waste," Sneed said.

He also said the waste from septic tanks has already undergone a pre-treatment from the germ-eating bacteria that exists in the tanks, and that lime must be added to the effluent to prevent the discharge from being too acidic, ‘’so it’s not just raw sewage going into a field."

About 50 of the 300 septic hauling businesses in Indiana have permits to apply septage to land. The rest is disposed of at wastewater treatment plants.

Purdue University extension educator Gene Matzat, who’s headquartered in nearby LaPorte County, said septage is preferred as fertilizer by some farmers because the nutrients actually help regenerate the soil better than commercial fertilizers. Typically, he said septage is also injected into the ground when applied, as another protection against tainting storm water and to prevent foul odors from emanating from the sites.

Matzat said benefits of septage for the soil include nutrients for the organisms that live in the ground; when they die more nutrients are released into the soil. He said septage also helps bond the particles in the soil. He said one downside is the level of nutrients in septage tends to vary and is not as consistent as what’s contained in commercial fertilizers.

He said the cooking grease in septage is also organic but does take longer to break down, so the nutrients contained in the grease does take longer before they are released into the ground. "It’s a whole industry that’s regulated," said Matzat.

Eakins said she was told the sulfur smell could be coming from possible bacteria growth at the top of the well. They plan to have it inspected and if there is such growth the couple will look to having the well chlorinated, which should kill any such growth.

‘’If that’s what it is, then that’s what we will do,’’ she added.

7/17/2014