This Food is Waste

Bio solids as fertilizer, what is that? I think that kids such as ourselves, have no idea what this means, well me anyways. Some farmers do use bio solids as fertilizer, and you may find it disgusting, or maybe not know what it means. So what are these bio solids? Basically, bio solids are human waste that forms sludge through sewage. There is a big misconception regarding the bio solids. The government has thought up of a "safe" way of disposing this hazardous waste by placing it over farmer's fields. This is the alternative to dumping the waste onto landfills, oceans and through an incinerator. But it ends up coming back to us.

Bio solids carry what are called pathogens. Pathogens are bacteria that can cause diseases in humans, in other animals, and also in plants. The diseases caused by bacteria are diverse and include food poisoning, tooth ache, certain forms of cancer and many more. Believe it or not, there have been incidents of people dying because of the pathogenic bacteria.

Clearly, this is not something to be taken lightly. Though, there are certain pros that are found for using sewage sludge as fertilizer. Nutrients found in could be nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and trace elements such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, sulfur and zinc, which are necessary for crop production and growth. Also, Municipalities get rid of the never-ending stream of sewage sludge, and farmers gain fertilizer for free. This also opens up jobs for people to transport the sludge.

I may have exaggerated a little, and sewer sludge are indeed monitored and kept track of to be rid of pathogens and other harmful chemicals, but do the pros outweigh the cons? It may be a beneficial course of action rather than having to wait extended periods of time for crops to develop, and is a much better way of disposing of sewer sludge rather than filling landfills and our oceans with it. Not to mention much better than incinerating it. Although I don't exactly agree with this option, it is the only solution we currently have and what we will use until an alternative comes up.

Sources:

http://www.toronto.ca/water/biosolids/index.htm

http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/wastewater/treatment/biosolids/

http://www.wef.org/biosolids/

Comments:

http://huliganrocafour.blogspot.com/2011/07/b-b-buy-your-solids.html?showComment=1311345768973#c1434924224199108828

http://raysbioblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-even-have-toilet-when-it-just-ends.html?showComment=1311345885008#c8035479133262087131