Letter to the Editor

Are Biosolids Safe in Prince Edward County?

What are Biosolids? It’s human sewage blended with industrial waste and put through a treatment process that is both vague and problematic. Is this product safe? It’s not allowed to be dumped in the oceans but allowed to be spread on land. The EPA has published concerns but is doing nothing about it.

They are used as fertilizer by farmers on crop fields. This saves them thousands of dollars and increases their profits. We all want our farmers to be prosperous, but how is this stuff affecting the health of our citizens? Farmers spread it all year and within 100 feet of human wells.
Citizens are instructed to keep their domestic animals off biosolids for 30 days. Please explain how humans and wildlife are immune from biosolids?

Nothing is published that says the county is regulating the spread of biosolids or testing our wells for heavy metals or pathogens.

It is time for Prince Edward County to start testing wells near farms spreading biosolids for contaminants harmful to our health.

It well past time for our local newspapers to pursue the facts about these health hazards. Investigate them and report back to the citizens.

RandalPhillips
Farmville, Va.

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