Skip to content
The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Community
  • Schools
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • Mill
  • Flora
  • Print Archive
  • About
Menu

Board nixes sludge forum

Posted on August 20, 2009August 20, 2009 by Staff

BY Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

HILLSBOROUGH — After hearing a series of concerns raised about the issue of land application of biosolids, the Orange County Board of Commissioners decided not to go ahead with a public-education forum on the issue.

The county’s board of health had suggested shifting $10,000 set aside for an evaluation of the health risks of applying sludge on farmland to pay for an information forum.

Chris Harlan, chair of the board of health, said there was not enough money allocated to do the proposed research on the sludge application and an education forum would be a better use for the funds and might help “get everyone on the same page” so that the county can move forward and design and fund a better research program to answer questions about sludge and public health.

But several opponents of the application of sludge said they wanted to see the county move ahead with some kind of testing to see what’s in the sludge being applied to more than 3,000 acres in Orange County.

Opponents of sludge application say they are concerned about the long-term effects of pharmaceuticals and anti-bacterial elements found in sludge.

Dr. Pam Groben, a UNC pathologist who lives in Bingham Township, said there is not enough scientific research on the health effects. She said she was not against the idea of a forum, but that the emphasis should be on gathering information.

“What we need is data,” she said.

Myra Dotson said she is alarmed at the extent of sludge application in Orange County, which receives sludge from wastewater treatment plants in OWASA, Burlington, Cary and Durham.

“Orange County has 20 million gallons [of sludge] sprayed on its precious farmlands each year,” Dotson told the commissioners. “We don’t know what is in it.”

She noted that industrial sludge from Burlington is sprayed in a concentration of fields just northwest of University Lake.

The commissioners voted 6-1 not to pursue the forum and instead to set up a work session to address the sludge issue using a memorandum drafted this spring by the county’s Commission for the Environment to help identify some of the concerns. Commissioner Steve Yuhasz was the lone dissenter, saying that he agreed that a study could not be funded and that the public was interested in hearing more about the issue.

One concern raised by the Commission for the Environment was how the state’s permitting process makes it hard for the county to regulate sludge application. At least two sludge-application fields are within key parts of the watershed for both University Lake and Cane Creek.

Commissioner Barry Jacobs said he would like to see the county pursue enabling legislation to allow it to better regulate the practice.

Commissioner Mike Nelson agreed and asked that the county’s legal staff offer some guidance as to how legislation would be worded and further regulation might be possible.

Bradshaw Quarry
The board heard from several citizens concerned about the imminent closing of the Bradshaw Quarry Solid Waste Convenience Center.

County officials decided to close the center, which gets the least traffic of the county’s convenience centers, to save costs and shift personnel to other facilities.

But residents who regularly use the center say it would cost them time and money to have to drive to the next nearest center.

The board asked representatives of the solid waste services department to look at other options, such as a temporary closure, and urged seeking “creative suggestions.”

County buildings for sale
The board also agreed to put several properties it owns up for sale, approving a plan to seek bids on four properties. An appraisal set the prices for the four buildings as follows;

• Clerk of Court Annex, 112 N. Churton Street, $450,000;
• Graham Building, 118 N. Churton Street, $130,000;
• Homestead Road Community Center, $275,000; and
• N.C. Hwy. 49 Old ABC Store, Cedar Grove, $5,000.

Web Archive

© 2025 The Archive of The Carrboro Citizen | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme