Fontis Water : News Releases

Crystal Springs Water Leaves Workers High and Dry

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Following more than 18 months of bargaining, workers at Crystal Springs began ambulatory pickets today in response to the bottled water company’s refusal to bargain in good faith. The workers are members of Teamsters Local Union 480 in Nashville, Tenn.

The union had exhausted all other options in its effort to reach a fair and equitable agreement with Crystal Springs. To date, company representatives have refused to back off their unreasonable demands.

“Crystal Springs is a profitable company – no one can deny that,” said Lendon Grisham, President of Teamsters Local 480. “Yet the company continues to deny giving raises to workers who have not had a change in their wages for more than a decade. Crystal Springs would rather spend its money on a high-priced, union-busting attorney fromWashington, D.C. than use that same money to give these workers the raises they deserve.”

The union has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board but still hopes that Crystal Springs will return to the table with a suitable contract offer.

“They want us to work more hours for the same amount of pay,” said Rick Wilson, a 10-year route sales representative at Crystal Springs. “This is just more of the same behavior from the company. Over the years they’ve done nothing but take things away from us. All we’re asking is fair wages for a hard day’s work.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE Teamsters Local 480

Bottling Lake Michigan Water

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Rumor has it that Chicago may begin bottling tap water from Lake Michigan to raise funds for the city.

Dispelling the rumors, Mayor Daley claims he currently has “no plans” to privatize Chicago’s water system, but bottling and selling the city’s “exceptional” tap water is worth exploring, newly-appointed Water Management Commissioner Tom Powers said today.

“The quality of the water that the department puts out is exceptional. In some cases, it’s better than bottled water,” Powers said after his City Council confirmation hearing.

Asked if Chicago might someday bottle and sell Lake Michigan water, Powers said, “As far as how you go about doing that — I don’t know how practical that is. It’s something you’d have to look at.”

Phony Phone Calls Distract Consumers from Genuine Theft

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NEWARK, NJ—Have you recently received a large number of strange and unexplained calls on your mobile or landline telephones? The FBI is warning consumers about a new scheme that uses telecommunications denial-of-service attacks as a diversion to what is really happening: the looting of bank and online trading accounts.

The Scheme

The scheme is known as telephony denial-of–service (TDOS) and according to several telecommunications companies working with the FBI, there has been a recent surge of these attacks in the past few weeks. The perpetrators are suspected of using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts to overwhelm the land and cell phone lines of their victims with thousands of calls. When the calls are answered, the victim may hear anything from dead air (nothing on the other end), an innocuous recorded message, an advertisement, or even a telephone sex menu. The calls are typically short in duration but so numerous that victims have had to have their numbers changed to make the calls stop.

The FBI has determined that these calls serve as a diversionary technique. During these TDOS attacks, online trading and other money management accounts are being accessed by the perpetrators who are transferring funds out of those accounts. The perpetrators will obtain account information of their victims in some way and then contact the financial institutions to change their victims’ profile information such as email addresses, telephone numbers and bank account numbers. The purpose of the malicious phone calls is to occupy the victim phone numbers on record with the financial institutions managing the accounts so that when the institutions contact the victim to verify the changes and transactions, the institution is unable to reach the victim. Consequently, the victim has no idea what has really transpired until it’s too late.

What is Being Done About It?

The FBI first learned of this scheme through one of its partnerships with private industry. In November of 2009, a semi-retired dentist in St. Augustine lost as much as $400,000 from his retirement account through telephony DOS. (See the article at http://staugustine.com/node/5477.) Law enforcement discovered VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) accounts created by a single user that paired the accounts with automatic dialing tools to dial a large volume of computer-generated calls per minute, all directed toward the business, home, and mobile telephone numbers of the victim dentist. Those VOIP accounts were terminated, but the perpetrators of the scheme were never identified. AT&T, which has a strong working relationship with the FBI, enlisted the help of FBI Newark’s Cybercrime squad.

“Following that first incident in November 2009, we’ve recently seen an increase in this activity targeting our customers across the country,” said Adam Panagia, Associate Director of Global Fraud Management for AT&T.

Last month, the Communication Fraud Control Association (CFCA) invited the FBI to become its official law enforcement liaison. Headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey, the idea of the CFCA was conceived in February of 1985 when a group of communications security professionals from AT&T, ITT, MCI, Network One, SBS, and Sprint met to establish a cooperative effort to combat the growing problem of communications fraud. CFCA has since expanded its membership to include all areas of communication providers (such as AT&T, PAETEC, and Verizon to name a few) and end users and even includes members of law enforcement. The FBI and CFCA are now working together to analyze the patterns and trends of TDOS to prevent attacks, educate the public, and ultimately identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. “The cooperation between PAETEC and the FBI has been tremendous,” said Robert Moore, CIO at PAETEC, a business communications firm headquartered in Fairpoint, New York. “It’s only with a true partnership between service providers and law enforcement that we can make a real impact in protecting businesses and private citizens from the growing criminal threats we’ve been seeing over the past years. It’s also the reason that for more than ten years, we’ve employed a highly-trained team of voice security professionals to identify and stop these attacks in progress while working with law enforcement to protect customers.”

Victims don’t immediately think to contact law enforcement because to them, the numerous phone calls appear to be a technical issue with the telephone carrier and not a criminal threat. “With the advent of Voice over IP and the newest technologies in phone service, criminal attacks on businesses using those platforms have become increasingly sophisticated,” said Moore. One trend that the FBI sees with the malicious phone calls is that when they are answered, many of the victims report hearing a recorded advertisement for an American car company with an announcer having an Asian accent. The other prominent trend is hearing a telephone sex “menu” when answering one of these calls.

How to Protect Yourself

Protection from TDOS attacks requires consumers to be proactive. “Although unsolicited telephone calls are not always representative of fraud, the FBI believes it is important to advise the public of this scheme,” said Michael B. Ward, Special Agent In Charge of the FBI’s Newark division. “Consumers should continue to emphasize strong security procedures for all financial accounts, including placing fraud alerts on all of their financial accounts and with the major credit bureaus if they believe they may have been targeted by a TDOS attack or other form of fraud.” Passwords for online and telephonic banking should be changed regularly and frequently. People should obtain their credit report annually and review it for fraudulent activity.

Adam Panagia of AT&T offered this advice: “We urge anyone who suspects they may be the target of a TDOS attack to immediately contact their telephone provider after notifying their financial institutions.”

This notification should include online trading brokers with whom the victim may have an account. In one recent case, the victim acted early and alerted her financial institutions and was able to successfully thwart an attempt to have money stolen from her accounts. The incident should also be promptly reported to the FBI through www.ic3.gov, the FBI’s online cybercrime complaint center. (The FBI does not necessarily respond to individual complaints registered on ic3.gov. Rather, the information is used to look for trends and patterns. Once those patterns are identified, the victims may be contacted for further information.)

“Listen to related podcast”: http://www.fbi.gov/inside/archive/inside051410.htm

U.S. Bottled Water Industry has Very Small Environmental Footprint, According to a New Study

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Alexandria, VA — The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) recently commissioned a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) study to determine the environmental footprint of the United States bottled water industry. The results indicate that bottled water has a very small environmental footprint. The study found:

Measurement based on British Thermal Units (BTUs) indicates that the energy consumed to produce small pack water bottled water containers water (containers from 8 ounces to 2.5 gallons).amounted to only 0.067 percent of the total energy use in the United States in 2007. Home and Office Delivery (HOD) bottled water (reusable bottles from 2.5 to 5 gallons) energy consumption only amounted to 0.003 percent of the total energy used in the United States in 2007.
The small pack and HOD bottled water industries’ combined greenhouse gas/ CO2 emissions amounted to only 0.08 percent of total United States greenhouse gas emissions.
Bottled water packaging discards accounted for only 0.64 percent of the 169 million tons of total U.S. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) discards in 2007.
The process and transportation BTU energy use for the bottled water industry was only 0.07 percent of total U.S. BTU primary energy consumption.
Greenhouse gas emissions per half gallon of single serve bottled water came to 426.4 grams CO2 equivalent (eq.), which is 75 percent less CO2 eq. per half gallon than orange juice.
Small pack bottled water generates 46 percent less CO2 eq. when compared to soft drinks also packaged in PET plastic.
Franklin Associates, a division of ERG, produced the LCI and prepared a report that quantified the energy requirements, solid waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions for the production, packaging, transport, and end-of- life management for bottled water consumed in the United States in 2007. According to a 2008 Beverage Marketing Corporation report, total consumption of bottled water in the U.S. in 2007 was 8.8 billion gallons.

The environmentally aware actions of many bottled water companies, such as the use of more recycled PET (rPET) in their bottle production, increasing recycling rates, and enhanced light-weighting, have positively impacted the environmental footprint of the industry.

Another recent study confirms the bottled water industry’s very small environmental footprint. On March 2, 2010, Nestle Waters North America, an IBWA member, released peer-reviewed findings on its environmental footprint, in a study conducted by Quantis International.

Key findings from the study include:

Water is the least environmentally impactful beverage option.
Tap water has lightest footprint, followed by tap water consumed in reusable bottles (if used more than 10 times), and then by bottled water.
Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible packaged drink choice.
Sports drinks, enhanced waters and soda produce nearly 50% more carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water.
Juice, beer and milk produce nearly three times as many carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water.
Milk, coffee, beer, wine and juice together comprise 28% of a consumer’s total beverage consumption but represent 58% of climate change impact.
Technical Highlights From the IBWA LCI Study

Energy— The IBWA LCI report looked at the BTU (British Thermal Unit) values for fuels and electricity consumed in the production of bottled water. The information is categorized according to six basic energy sources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, nuclear, hydropower, and other (solar, biomass and geothermal energy). Also included in the LCI report are the BTU values for all transportation steps and production of packaging materials, including the energy content of fossil-fuel derived packaging materials.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2007 the United States consumed 101,553,855 billion (102 quadrillion) BTUs of primary energy as fuels (this is approximately 335.9 million BTU per person).1 Based on this data, the IBWA LCI report found that:

The production, packaging, and transportation of the 8,757 million gallons of HOD and small pack bottled water consumed in the U.S. in 2007 required 107.4 trillion BTU.2 Thus, process and transportation energy use for the bottled water industry was 0.07 percent of total U.S. primary energy consumption reported by EIA.
Of the 107.4 trillion BTU used in 2007 for bottled water, 102.6 trillion was for small pack water (0.067 percent of the total energy use in the United States in 2007) and 4.8 trillion for HOD water (0.003 percent of the total energy used by the United States in 2007).
Solid Waste — The report examined solid wastes generated from the production, processing, packaging, and transportation of bottled water. The quantities of postconsumer packaging wastes (packaging that is disposed after the bottled water is consumed) were adjusted to account for current recycling levels for plastic, glass, and corrugated packaging.

Americans generated 254 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2007, as reported by the U.S. EPA. After recovery for recycling, total MSW discards were 169.2 million tons.3

Based on data reported by IBWA members for small pack and HOD water, the total weight of packaging materials used for bottled water packaging in 2007 was 1.64 million tons. After adjusting for recycling of containers and packaging, the net amount of bottled water packaging disposed of in landfills was 1.08 million tons.

At 1.08 million tons, bottled water packaging discards account for 0.64 percent of the 169 million tons of total U.S. MSW discards in 2007.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are expressed as CO2 equivalents (CO2 eq).4

According to the EIA, total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 were 7,947 million tons of CO2 eq.5 Based on this data, the IBWA LCI report found that:

The small pack and HOD bottled water industries combined emit 6.8 million tons of CO2 eq. a year, which is equivalent to 0.08 percent of total United States emissions.
The life cycle GHG emissions per half gallon of small pack bottled water are 426.4 grams CO2 eq., which is 75 percent less CO2 eq. per half gallon than orange juice (1700 grams of CO2 eq. per half gallon).6
The life cycle carbon footprint for a 500 ml PET bottle of a name brand soft drink is reportedly 240 grams CO2 eq, and the carbon footprint for 500 ml PET diet soft drink bottle is reportedly 220 grams CO2 eq.7 At 111 g CO2 eq. per 500 ml equivalent basis, small pack bottled water generates 46 percent less CO2 eq. when compared to these soft drinks.8

This assumes that the two calculations methods are comparable.

Contact: TOM LAURIA
703-647-4609 office / 703-887-4056 cellphone

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters. Founded in 1958, IBWA’s membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, and state governments to set stringent standards for safe, high quality bottled water products. In addition to FDA and state regulations, the Association requires member bottlers to adhere to the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates additional standards and practices that in some cases are more stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice is an annual plant inspection by an independent, third party organization. Consumers can contact IBWA at 1-800-WATER-11 or log onto IBWA’s web site (www.bottledwater.org) for more information about bottled water and a list of members’ brands. Media inquiries can be directed to VP of Communications Tom Lauria at 703-647-4609 or tlauria@bottledwater.org.

To calculate the pounds of CO2 eq, the pounds of emissions of fossil CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide over the life cycle of small pack and HOD bottled water are multiplied by the total global warming potential of each greenhouse gas relative to carbon dioxide’s total global warming potential.

5ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/pdf/ggrpt/057308.pdf
6 Data for orange juice based on information at http://www.tropicana.com.pdf/carbonFootprint.pdf
7 Data for soft drinks based on information at http://cokecorporateresponsibility.co.uk/carbontrust/product-carbon-footprints.html
8

1 http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/overview.html, Annual Energy Review, Table 1.3: Primary Energy Consumption by Source, 1949-2008.
2 Approximately 30 percent of this energy is associated with the energy content of the plastic materials used in bottled water packaging, and the other 75 trillion BTU was consumed as fuels for process and transportation energy
3 http://www.epa.gov/waste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-rpt.pdf.
4

Calhoun staying ahead of the curve with water treatment capacity

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Calhoun is already in a positive situation when it comes to water supply, but according to City Utilities General Manager Kelly Cornwell, it looks even better now that plans for a new clear well have been added to the Brittany Drive water treatment plant.

The new clear well, which will accommodate water flowing from a new intake under construction at nearby Big Springs, will allow the Brittany Drive plant to process up to 11.8 million gallons per day, Cornwell said. Currently, the Brittany Drive plant processes about 5.8 million gallons each day, up from just 1 million per day when the original well was drilled in 1999.

Clean water

The Big Springs intake sits on about 100 acres of city-owned property. The water at Big Springs runs unusually clear. Even in rainy weather, Cornwell said he has “never seen it even dingy.”

People in this area have been drinking water from this spring for hundreds of years.

“It’s a wonderful water source,” he said.

Four giant filtering vessels at the Brittany Drive treatment plant clean the water forced through them before it is stored in the existing clear well, where it is chlorinated. Water leaving the plant must measure at a level lower than .03 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units), Cornwell said.

Turbidity refers to the haziness caused by suspended solids in water. Most of the water coming into the Brittany Drive facility measures at such a level before it even reaches the filters, he said.

Ahead of the curve

The addition of the new clear and wet wells and their accompanying infrastructure, he said, will happen over a three-year period. This is a SPLOST-funded project, he explained, so the city will proceed as SPLOST money is available.

The entire project, including the filtration infrastructure for the clear well, should total around $2.5 million, he said. The wet well, which the county bid out in early summer, has an approximately $600,000 price tag.

The city still uses its Mauldin Road Plant to serve the largest portion of the city, downtown and the industrial corridor. The Mauldin Plant processes water from the Coosawattee River — also “a relatively clean water source,” according to Cornwell.

The Big Springs/ Brittany Drive plant will eventually serve outlying areas like Hill City, Resaca and Plainville.

When the new treatment facility is complete, he said, the city will have the ability to treat nearly 30 million gallons per day using both its plants. Current typical usage comes to about 10 million gallons per day, he said.

The extra capacity may look like overkill now, but by staying ahead of the game, Cornwell said he hopes to avoid the water shortage situation Atlanta has experienced in recent years.

Preparing the community for growth with proper water capacity is essential, he said. He de-scribed the process of working to make sure Calhoun and Gordon County are prepared for popula-tion growth 20 to 30 years from now as “one of the bright spots of my career.”

Health Highlights: Aug. 26, 2009

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:00:00 GMT

A common herbicide tied to reproductive disruptions in humans may be occurring at higher levels in U.S. drinking water than is being detected by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a report issued Monday by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The council claims that the EPA may miss “spikes” in water levels of atrazine, especially in the Midwest and South, where it is applied to a variety of crops. In use since the 1950s, atrazine is a known “endocrine disruptor” and can interfere with the body’s hormonal and reproductive development, according to the Washington Post.

The EPA typically checks for atrazine in water at four set times each year — potentially missing spikes in concentrations that occur after rain or the springtime use of the herbicide, the council said.

“Our biggest concern is early-life-stage development,” NRDC senior scientist Jennifer Sass told the Post. “If there’s a disruption during that time, it becomes hard-wired into the system. These endocrine disrupters act in the body at extremely low levels. These spikes matter.”

Her group noted that the EPA’s own analysis found that during 2003 and 2004, 54 water systems had peaks of atrazine concentrations that exceeded the 3 parts per billion the agency considers safe.

Speaking to the Post, Steve Owens, the administrator of the EPA Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said the agency “will take a hard look at atrazine and other substances.”

A spokesman for the herbicide industry told the Post the NRDC report was alarmist. “Atrazine is one of the best studied, most thoroughly regulated molecules on the planet,” said toxicologist Tim Pastoor, who works for atrazine maker Syngenta. “Those momentary spikes are not going to be injurious to human health.”

Confronting the toxins inside

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The following is an excerpt from that article:

Living in a $3 million mansion could be killing you softly; but sharing a three-bedroom walkup could actually strengthen your immune system.

I am not talking mortgages or exercise; I am describing the effects of the water flowing from your home faucets right now. Are you protected?

About 60 percent of our body is made up of water! So any toxins lurking in water we drink, shower or soak in, can end up affecting us.

Chlorine, mercury, lead and other heavy metals, hormones from drugs and pesticides and something called perchlorate, a chemical used in air bags, electronics, fertilizers and rocket fuel, are all now found in soil, groundwater, drinking water and irrigation water around the country.

Perchlorate interferes with the ability of the thyroid to get enough iodide, a necessary nutrient that protects against breast cancer. Perchlorate, at higher doses, has also been linked to thyroid cancer and a weakened immune system.

Lacking federal regulations, New Hampshire and most other states still ignore perchlorate levels in municipal water supplies. In 2006, however, Massachusetts passed the strictest perchlorate law in the nation, limiting contamination to 2 parts per billion. (Contact your state representative and say thank you!)

However, chlorine, still used to eradicate dangerous bacteria in most municipal water supplies, was shown in a 1992 Harvard study to raise the risk of bladder cancer by 21 percent and rectal cancer by 38 percent. A 2007 study published in the International Journal of Health Geography also supports this connection between chlorinated water supplies and a significant increase in rectal cancer, especially in areas, such as Cape Cod and Cape Ann, where shallow ground water is the major source of municipal water.

Several years ago, I met a well respected North Shore internist who laughed at the concept of filtering his home water supply.

“The town water is fine,” he told me, when I asked for a glass of water one evening and flinched as I watched him fill my glass from his tap.

“But what about the yucky chlorine taste you get when you make coffee with this stuff?” I asked, as I politely drank the tainted-tasting glass of aqua.

“Oh! I just leave my coffee water out over night,” he said. “The chlorine evaporates by morning.”

But what about the heavy metals, the hormones and the other carcinogens that don’t evaporate? I wondered.

I will never know if drinking that town’s municipal water, unfiltered, for 40 years was a factor, but a few years ago, my 65-year-old physician friend died of pancreatic cancer.

What's stupid about bottled water?

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Crystal Springs® Bottled Water Company Acquires Blue Ridge Mountain Water

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Crystal Springs…is pleased to announce that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Blue Ridge Mountain Water, Inc. and its affiliates. Combining these resources with its own, Crystal Springs will expand its home and office bottled water delivery service further into the greater Atlanta area and additional Georgia communities, including a new branch in Calhoun, GA.

Mike Williams, Mid South Vice President and General Manager says,”With the acquisition of Blue Ridge Mountain Water, we will be able to expand the reach of our bottled water delivery service and filtration service options and ensure that we continue our rich history of superior water delivery service. We welcome these new members of our Crystal Springs family and look forward to earning their business.”

Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Is recycled sewage water coming to a tap near you? If you live in certain parts of the developed world—including areas of the united States—the answer, perhaps surprisingly, is yes.

Persistent droughts and competition for resources are leading to increased use of recycled sewage for drinking water and fertilizer, water experts say.

In developing countries human waste is already used by an estimated 200 million farmers, according to a recent report by the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Now wastewater use is gaining steam in the developed world too, though in rich countries, the water undergoes a cleansing process before being pumped out to taps.

“Wastewater recycling is something we will have to rely more heavily on,” said Shivaji Deshmukh, program manager for the groundwater replenishment system at the Orange County Water District in southern California.

Orange County has been recognized for its innovative sewage system, which collects what people flush down the toilet, separates its components, then treats the wastewater to drinking-water standard.

The county water district pumps the treated wastewater into underground caverns, where it is stored and later used as tap water or irrigation water.

In the U.S. many federal and state laws require reclaimed water to sit in rivers or aquifers before it can be processed for drinking water.

This explains why water coming out of the Orange County facility doesn’t flow directly to residents’ taps, Deshmukh said.

The Groundwater Replenishment System facility, the largest of its kind, supplies 70 million gallons (265 million liters) of treated water a day, enough for 500,000 people.

Fighting Drought

Like many other regions, Orange County is struggling to find fresh water during prolonged periods of drought.

According to the UN-chartered International Panel on Climate Change, more than 1.4 billion people on the planet already face water shortages.

The hardest-hit areas include northern Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, southern Asia, northern China, Australia, the U.S., and Mexico.

In Australia more than 10 percent of wastewater in drought-stricken cities is recycled, according to the IWMI report.

Deshmukh said the cost to treat reclaimed wastewater to drinking-water standard remains high, which is why large-scale facilities like his aren’t readily built in developing countries.

Orange County’s facility relies on reverse osmosis, a process that requires an enormous amount of energy to push water through a membrane that captures trace amounts of toxins, pollutants, household chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

As energy costs rise, so do the costs of wastewater recycling, Deshmuhk noted.

He said, however, that recycling is still cheaper than pumping in water from water-rich areas in California.

In Orange County it takes 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity to pump one acre-foot of water (a foot of water spread over an acre or 12 centimeters spread over a hectare) into the county. Recycling the same amount of local wastewater requires half as much energy.

Human Feces

Anders Finnson, deputy managing director of environmental wastewater issues for the Swedish Water and Wastewater Association (SWWA), said recycling wastewater brings other benefits—namely, nutrient-rich solids that can be turned into fertilizer.

Fertilizer prices jumped nearly 50 percent per metric ton over the last year in some places, making human waste a somewhat more attractive substitute.

Sewage sludge contains the same soil-enriching, plant-boosting elements found in expensive chemical fertilizers—nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

Often referred to as biosolids, highly treated human feces is used in scattered areas throughout the developed world, where it must meet strict levels for pathogens and heavy metals.

Most biosolids are applied as fertilizer to cereal and grain crops, with occasional applications for forestry operations, golf courses, and other land uses, according to James Clark of Black and Veatch Corporation, a U.S. firm specializing in water recycling.

The practice has not spread widely, partly because of the public’s concerns about human health or odors from neighboring farms, Clark said.

Despite such resistance, a handful of European countries have recently responded to a global phosphorus shortage by promoting sludge use.

Experts estimate that the world’s reserves of the naturally occurring phosphorus, a critical element for plant growth, will be depleted in less than 200 years.

Sweden Pushes Biosolids

Sweden recently made phosphorus recycling a national environmental priority, with the goal of returning 60 percent of it back to the land by 2015.

Reaching that goal is possible through the use of biosolids to fertilize farms, the SWWA’s Finnson said.

Hoping to convince farmers that biosolids are safe, the Swedish association launched a certification program highlighting wastewater facilities that produce high-quality, phosphorus-rich sludge ready for agricultural use.

The price of phosphorus, which has risen 400 percent in the last two years, has helped convince Swedish farmers to make the switch, Finnson said.

He estimates that as much as 20 percent of Swedish agricultural land is now treated with biosolids.

(Also see “Alcohol, Feces, Carcasses Fuel Green Vehicles in Sweden” [June 25, 2007].)

By comparison, biosolids are used on just one percent of U.S. farmland, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“In North America we sometimes go overboard with treatment,” Clark, of Black and Veatch, said. “I think there are ways to meet halfway.”