ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997 TAG: 9701130024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Some Cloyd District residents in Pulaski County are concerned about the spreading of solid waste from industrial operations over farmland near their homes.
The waste was generated by the Burlington Industries plant near Newbern. The plant has not operated for years. Its acreage is now part of the town of Dublin and being used as an industrial park and a Town Center where new municipal and business facilities are being built.
But the residual solids from the old dye and polishing ponds on the Burlington property must be removed before the plant meets environmental closure regulations.
A special-use permit is being sought by S&ME Inc. of Greensboro, N.C., which specializes in the removal and disposal of such waste, to spread the residue on land owned by Albert L. Smith III on the north side of Virginia 625 (Morgan Farm Road) less than a half-mile west of Virginia 624 (Hickman Cemetery Road).
The Pulaski County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the request at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
"I'm concerned, considering we have well water. That's the main problem," said Rick Hermann, who lives within site of the agricultural property involved.
His wife, Christine Hermann, is an organic chemist who works at Radford University. She has gathered a stack of data several inches thick on the material involved; her sources ranging from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality office in Roanoke to the Internet. The spreading of the sludge from the waste ponds is part of a plan which Burlington filed with Department of Environmental Quality four years ago.
The dye pond holds an estimated 2.3 million gallons of waste, mostly water. Its solid content is about 17 percent, or 1,665 tons of dry sludge. The waste from the polishing pond amounts to less than a million gallons, with about 6 percent solids.
They are mostly water. "Well, people are 95 percent water," Rick Hermann said. "If it's so harmless, why ... don't they keep it there and cover it up?"
"These are what are known as residual solids," said Bob Branch of S&ME. "These are predominately dead bug bodies. They are microbes that break down the materials that are put in there."
Christine Hermann has lists of compounds that went into the ponds during the industrial processes at Burlington, including some that are carcinogens or considered toxic. A Department of Environmental Quality official said only one of those materials, bis-2-ethylhexylphthalate, which is believed to be a carcinogen, is present in sufficient quantity to be of concern. DEQ's Water Division would limit the sludge application rates, if the county approves the necessary special-use permit.
"I'm sure they checked for all the stuff they were legally required to check for," Rick Hermann said. His concern is there might be materials in the ponds that DEQ is not aware of.
The residue does contain some heavy metals, Branch said. "But the Department of Environmental Quality has looked at the analysis of the materials and decided that the levels are acceptable for land application."
They are not that different from what is found in commercial fertilizers, he said, which often contain heavy metals as part of the micronutrients required by plants to survive.
"It has to be tracked," he said. The pH balance of the soil, which measures acidity and alkalinity, must also be within set limits to make sure the residue does not become mobile. Sinkholes, ponds and drainage ways must all be taken into consideration.
Some parts of a site might not be acceptable for applying the waste, he said.
"It's a fairly tightly controlled process and it does have quite a few checks and balances from the Department of Environmental Quality," Branch said. "It's not experimental.... It's part of the closure plan for the wastewater treatment plant" at the former Burlington operation.
The timetable for applying the sludge is also limited. Branch said that probably only a single application will be approved for the site.
The county approval is just the first step. The application would then have to be approved at the state level, where the project would be mapped out.
"It will still be subject to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality regulations," Branch said. For example, the material cannot be applied within 100 feet of neighboring property lines or 200 feet of homes.
Branch said the application on agricultural fields is a good use of the material.
"There are restrictions associated with it. Some of these things don't need to go in your front yard," he said. "But if they're done correctly, it saves landfill space and promotes plant growth."
He said he has seen leakage problems at landfills when massive loads of waste materials are buried in them. But small amounts of such materials on farmland can be absorbed as plant nutrients, he said. "Frankly, in an age of recycling, this is a great opportunity."
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