The David Suzuki Foundation has found high levels of chemicals in test samples of biosolids located along a power line right-of-way south of Logan Lake.
John Werring, senior science advisor for the foundation said he collected samples of the waste product back on July 9, which he submitted to Maxxam Analytics in Burnaby to be analyzed.
The samples were not taken from the BioCentral composting facility in Lower Nicola that has been the subject of a road blockade by protesters since March.
The accredited laboratory was asked to test for a handful of chemicals — DEHP phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dichlorophenol and heavy metals.
Werring said these chemicals are toxic to humans and many are carcinogens.
The results showed the levels of these substances in the samples were higher than the limits in schedules for standards triggering contaminated soil relocation agreements and generic numerical soil standards under the province’s BC Contaminated Sites Regulations.
“The reason I chose the BC Contaminated Sites Regulations levels is because those levels are set for protection of human health and the environment,” Werring said.
Despite exceeding the limits in those regulations, the metal levels fell within the allowable range for Class B biosolids in the Ministry of Environment’s Organic Matter Recycling Regulation (OMRR).
“I would think that for biosolids you would want to be below the [BC] Contaminated Sites Regulations,” Werring said.
Minister of Environment Mary Polak told the Herald the two regulations have differing limits because not all contaminated soils are equal — there are gradations of contamination.
“Even within the contaminated soils, there are different levels at which we require different types of treatment and different types of handling,” Polak said. “An area of soil can be contaminated and yet not to the extent where we would consider it harmful.”
She said contaminated soil needs to be handled in a safe way, which is also the case with biosolids and animal manure alike.
“Depending on what category it falls into, we have different requirements to handle it, so that it can be safe,” she said.
Handling biosolids properly includes having appropriate setbacks from water courses, frequency of applying it to the land and the amount per square metre, she said.
Polak told the Herald she’s aware of Werring’s results and her ministry is in the process of obtaining contextual information — such as the exact location of the biosolids sampled, what materials were tested and the methods that were used — from some of the local First Nations bands who were part of an initiative to have Werring visit them regarding their concerns of biosolids being dumped in the Nicola Valley.
Ministry of Environment public affairs officer Danielle Bell told the Herald via email OMRR doesn’t have any standards for chemicals such as DEHP phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dichlorophenol.
She said such standards are not necessary based on risk assessments and surveys conducted by other jurisdictions.
Werring said that while biosolids contain high amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, they also possibly contain a wide array of chemicals that end up in the product following treatment at a wastewater treatment facility.
Bell said compounds other than metals could exist in biosolids, but are not expected to pose a significant risk to human health and the environment due to minute concentrations and/or a short life time in soil.
Werring’s findings, however, show levels of DEHP phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dichlorophenol that all exceed the limits outlined in the BC Contaminated Sites Regulations.
OMRR’s parameters limits for metals concentrations in the biosolids and the soils where biosolids have been applied are based on risk assessment analyses, she said.
Werring said he limited the chemicals he tested for to just a few specific substances because it’s expensive to analyze for them. He said the two samples he sent away cost the foundation about $1,500. He told the Herald the Suzuki Foundation was not reimbursed by the Lower Nicola and Nooiatch bands, or the anti-biosolids group Friends of the Nicola Valley to have the testing conducted.
“They’re telling results,” said Werring. “They’re telling me, as a scientist, that this material that’s being deposited on farmland is not safe for the exposure of humans, animals or the environment.”
He said the potential dangers with biosolids include the leaching of chemicals into the soil, runoff from rainstorms and having chemicals enter the food chain via plants and animals.
A photo of the sampled pile Werring sent the Herald shows a large mound resting on the ground.
Biosolids must be stored in a manner that prevents the escape of the material, said Bell.
The specific means to achieve this are not prescribed, however, the OMRR explicitly states that “berms or other works must be constructed around the storage site if necessary to prevent the escape of material,” the email stated.
Werring said the pile was surrounded by a trench that ran along the front of it.
“There was a fence line there, but there was a gate and the gate was open. There wasn’t any indication that it was private property,” he said, adding that there was also a cattle corral nearby.
Werring collected the material from various spots of the pile using sterilized mason jars and a spoon wrapped in tinfoil.
The samples were brought to the laboratory within 24 hours.
He said he knew the pile was biosolids because it smelled like sewage, but he didn’t see any clearly posted biosolids warning signs.
Werring initially went to the BioCentral compost site and asked if he could collect samples from there, but said he was turned away when he was told the person who could authorize him to do that wasn’t at the site.
“I personally believe, as a scientist, that this material, that is being pawned off on the general public as being safe and useful as a beneficial fertilizer, is actually toxic and contaminated and it should not be put on any kind of food producing land whatsoever,” Werring said.
“There are different degrees of contamination,” Polak said. “Just because something is considered contaminated doesn’t mean that there isn’t a safe way of handling it.”
