Environmental ArticlesSludge
Grudge A headline in the December 2, 2002 issue of Owen Sound's The Sun Times read, "Septage industry still rife with problems." No kidding. There are no ifs, ands or butts about it…sludge stinks. Rural and city dwellers are piling up resentments, creating a major sludge grudge. Let's take a historical perspective. It is said that history is like a pendulum swinging, first from one extreme to another, then back again. We can see that this is precisely the case with human waste management. It all began in the woods: man doing what comes naturally in the shady forest. Simple. Then, in medieval times, the urban dweller blithely tossed his bodily refuse over balconies to the streets below. Next came the elaborate Roman sewage systems. Finally, the flush toilet. Now, the pendulum swings back. Once again, we toss turds. But in modernity, it's on farmers' fields rather than the city streets. Nonetheless, tossed it is. And the next movement is afoot. Witness Kathleen Meyer's book, How to Shit in the Woods, a sure sign that yes, the pendulum is swinging back. With this historical perspective in mind, let's examine the issues of the day. According to Jim Frew, Co-Founder and Chair of Voters Against Sludge (V.A.S.), the life expectancy of pathogens (bacteria) is unknown and in fact, pathogens have never been studied. Try as they might, he says, "You can't get the Province of Ontario to submit documentation that shows there are no pathogens or that it's [sludge is] safe." In fact, according to Frew, companies like Teratek advertise that spreading sludge is a way to enrich your soil with organic matter. But, says Frew, "They don't want to tell you the bad things, just the good things." But what if it's all a tempest in a pee-pot? After all, some camps would have us believe that sludge and septage are just another way to fertilize our fields. Sure, "pathogen" sounds pretty scary. But hey, typhoid, cholera and salmonella are biggies too and our medieval ancestors survived all that, didn't they? I mean, the ones who survived that is. Let's not be crybabies. It's not a perfect world, geez. People gotta put their poop somewhere, don't they? I'm just worried about what they'll do in the winter when they can't haul it up here and spread it. I have a suggestion for Toronto's Mayor, Mel Lastman. You know, they did close all their pools lately, so I thought, hey! Perfect! After all, we have to start thinking outside the litter box and come up with some concrete solutions sometime. But if my pendulum swinging theory is correct, we will all be squatting
in the woods again in no time. Oops. I forgot. There are no woods
around Toronto. I guess they'll just have to start using the roughly
18,000 acres of parkland in the GTA. In fact, why don't they stop
being so unselfish and keep the sludge to beautify their own green
spaces? I for one, would be willing to forego the benefits of sludge
if it would mean the residents of the GTA had nicer parks. In fact,
why don't we send them our septage so that they can really invigorate
the Big Smoke?
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