Council is asked
to honor vow to
test sewageA consultant believes a plan
to turn waste into fertilizer
should include soil analyses
An informational meeting today about the city's proposed sewage sludge-to-fertilizer plant should not substitute for testing its product as requested by the City Council, says the head of the Sand Island Business Association.
At its Dec. 3 meeting, "the Council had voted to have the test done. I really feel that the Council should follow through with that and tell Synagro, 'We want the test done -- let's do it,'" said Rodney Kim, executive director of the Sand Island Business Association, which represents 2,000 workers in the Sand Island Industrial Park.
Synagro is the Houston-based company the city has contracted to build and operate a $34 million plant to turn 25,000 tons a year of sewage solids at its Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant into pellet fertilizer.
A microbiology consultant hired by the business association recommended to the Council in December that it conduct tests to see if harmful microorganisms will regrow in the sludge fertilizer when it is mixed with soil.
Synagro spokesman Alvin Thomas said the company provided samples from its plant in Pinellas County, Fla., which the Honolulu facility would be modeled after, and that he believes testing was done. He said he did not have the results.
City officials could not be reached this weekend to ask about the testing.
Reached at his Georgia home Saturday, the business association's consultant, David Lewis, of the University of Georgia, said he does not believe tests have been performed.
Lewis said he questioned Synagro's claim that potentially harmful organisms killed in the sewage sludge during processing will not regrow when applied as fertilizer.
The fertilizer produced in Honolulu will be Grade A, pasteurized to virtually no trace of biological organisms, Thomas said.
Thomas said Synagro's process "kills everything. ... But it's a difficulty we have in our industry. Because you're dealing with what starts out as poop, people have a reaction that this must be bad because ever since you were in diapers, you were told to stay away from it."
While the fertilizer's purity from the plant may be high, Lewis said, some scientists question whether potentially harmful bacteria introduced in nature might grow extremely well in such a medium once it is applied to soil, because it has been sterilized of "good" bacteria.
Lewis suggested that three test barrels be observed for 30 days to "see what grows in it." One barrel would contain all fertilizer, one fertilizer and soil, and one just soil.
"If it's good bacteria, then it's good news for everybody," Lewis said. "But if grows salmonella or Staphylococcus aureus (a disease-causing bacteria), then there are questions."
Fertilizers containing sewage sludge are used on thousands of acres of farmlands nationwide, are sold at stores like Home Depot and have been used on the White House lawn, Thomas said.
Synagro has contracts to handle, transport and treat municipal sewage in 38 states and the District of Columbia, he said.
Today's informational workshop is 9 a.m. to noon at the Neal Blaisdell Center's Maui Room and is open to the public.
Granting Synagro a permit for construction of the plant is on the City Council agenda for tomorrow.