Sewage (Bio Solids) in Your Compost?

[Worth1]

There is a reason so many folks around the LA area have raised beds,'
The soil is contaminated in many places.
The old location of the El Toro Marine air station is but one.

Didn't someone say leafy greens took up heavy metals?

[whoose]

So here are the lab reports. http://www.ekocompost.com/certified-lab-reports.html

Any science guys/gals out there. Let me know what you think.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by maxjohnson

In the PC world we live in there is a name for everything, so you have to use the correct word otherwise you are a racist. The correct terminology for what you described is lacto-ovo pescatarian.

I fail to see what Worth not knowing the various terms different kinds of eaters call themselves has to do with racism.

Racism is a serious problem for many people, and IMO one should not invoke it flippantly like this to make fun of and undermine people who fight a real cause of a great deal of real suffering.

[PaulF]

Looks to me, the non-scientist, like you have some pretty good stuff. As I read it, everything is under, and way under, guidelines. Those guidelines are even more stringent than they used to be. Your heavy metal content is probably less than what naturally occurs in you local soil.

[gorbelly]

WRT the original topic without the culture war being dragged into it:

I would personally be fine with it provided there was certified analysis and everything was in the safe range. But biosolid production isn't standardized nationally, so it would really depend on where it was being made, how, and what the standards for the final product are. In the US, I don't think it's possible to have a blanket policy on biosolid safety--certainly not a blanket policy of acceptance--since standards and practices vary so much from locality to locality.

I'm not predisposed to think it's gross if processed so that it's safe, though, and tend to think that humanity not finding productive uses for our waste is a form of criminal waste. Doesn't have to be veggie production, but we should certainly come up with more ways to do things with it other than landfill it. The real question is whether current processing is actually producing a safe product wherever one is gardening.

[Worth1]

I think I wouldn't use it for my own reasons and for the fact that compost breaks down the metals dont.
Look at the lead for example it is at 26.
If you were to have to put the stuff in the same place as it broke down 11 times you would be at the limits of the EPA for lead at 300.
So in possibly 11 to 12 years your soil could be at or above the EPA limits.

No Idea just a thought as I am no expert.


Worth

[Worth1]

Here is my reasoning on the above comments.
For the contaminates to get to the level they are they have to be concentrated in the sewage pond.
The continued use of the compost in one spot over time like I have said more than once will continue to bring those levels up.

I wonder what the levels are in the fields they have continued to dump this stuff for years on end.

[dmforcier]

Originally Posted by whoose

Any science guys/gals out there. Let me know what you think.

Not a science guy, but I don't see much sciencey on report. Except maybe for the Stability section. It looks like they test to see if the sample is producing any CO2. Little CO2 means that the composting action has stopped. In other words, it's stopped rotting and is ready for use.

[dmforcier]

Worth, your reasoning assumes that everything except the lead disappears. It doesn't. If it changes at all it turns into dirt. So long as the current level is stated as a ratio of mass, the level won't change much over time, unless there is some other process concentrating it.

[Worth1]

Sometimes the worms carry it off.
People think that it just dissolves and goes away in soil like sand but it really is the worms.
My compost pile can never stay full it just keeps shrinking as I add more stuff.
It has been going on for years.
Right now it has a Loquat forest growing in it.

[dmforcier]

The compost pile shrinks because the organic material is breaking down. The stuff at the bottom is all broken down and stops shrinking. That's the stuff to use. (Thus the Stability evaluation on the report.)

Worms eat the compost and poot it out the other end. So in that sense all compost is poop.

[Worth1]

Here is what I am talking about.
That pile keeps getting carried off by the worms.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=39836

[Gardeneer]

Composting in a way is like burning. When a big pile of brush or fire wood is burned you will have some small amount of ashes. Where did it all go ? H2O, CO2 are the major products of combustion that go up in the air. Similar situation happens in composting. Here bio chemical forces are at work. A big portion of reduction in volume comes from compaction.

[brownrexx]

Glad that you got the lab report so that you can see what you might have. I say "might" have because this lab test is over a year old so not totally what is available today although it is probably a good representation of what they usually provide.

I would not panic and start removing soil but I would probably use caution about adding more.

I see a couple of things.

Many compost products are high in salts but this one is not - that's a good thing.

It is low in the heavy metals that the EPA commonly tests for although it has a significant amount of Aluminum, Iron and Manganese. Are these a problem? I don't really know but the EPA does not generally test for them. Mixing this material with additional soil from another source will decrease this number.

It is an "immature" product which means that it will tie up Nitrogen and not allow it to be available to your plants so supplemental Nitrogen will need to be added until the material ages some more.

pH looks good

They test for salmonella but not fecal pathogens like e.coli. They say that the major portion of these pathogens are killed in the composting process but that some may regrow later. I would use caution when harvesting vegetables and make sure that they are thoroughly washed before eating. This is recommended when you use ANY manure (especially cow manure).

They do not test for pharmaceutical residue so who knows about that. Do plants absorb human hormones or drugs? I really don't know but maybe someone else does.

It really does not look that bad to me and now you have some actual facts to consider if you want to use more of it.

I use this type of material on my flower beds but not my vegetable garden although I'll bet that many farmers use biosolids on their fields so if you buy store veggies then you are getting vegetables grown in it anyway.

I'm enjoying this thread. I think Milwaukee still bags and sells their biosolids under the brand name Milorganite. It's pretty expensive.

When Michele Obama became first lady, she announced she would grow an "organic" garden behind the white house. They hired a gardener who tilled the area and sent soil samples in to certify the area suitable for organic gardening. It didn't pass the test. Apparently someone in the past had used biosolids on the soil and the soil now contains heavy metals. I believe she still grew a garden, but she couldn't call it organic.

I remember a television show many years ago about gardening. They were promoting processed biosolids for gardening purposes. The point they were making was by using biosolids to grow vegetables they were completing the "circle of life". I would bet that circle now couldn't pass a organic gardening certification test.

Ted