Sewage Sludge: How the spreading of these PFAS-laden solids are impacting communities around NYS скачать в хорошем качестве

Sewage Sludge: How the spreading of these PFAS-laden solids are impacting communities around NYS

Mini-documentary from the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter shows how upstate NY towns are taking the lead in fighting the spread of toxic sewage sludge on farmland in NYS. #SewageSludge #PFAS #SoilHealth #WaterSafety #OrganicFarming #sludge #sewage #toxic #foreverchemicals Dangerous PFAS “forever chemicals” are found in sewage sludge, the solids left over from wastewater treatment plants, yet the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation allows big companies to dump them on farmland and golf courses in the state, billing it as fertilizer. Working with the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter's Farm & Food Committee, Documentarian Alexa Tumbarello interviewed neighbors in the towns of Thurston and Cameron, NY (Steuben County), as well as impacted community members in Albany county. These community members took on the big companies like Casella Organics - who spread toxic sewage sludge on nearby farmland - and these community members are continuing to fight for the health of streams and fresh groundwater -- and themselves -- even as some neighbors’ wells are shown to be contaminated. Albany County resident Ryan Dunham worries every time his kids take a shower: “my daughter singing Taylor Swift, what is she ingesting right now? And is it going to cause kidney failure? Is she going to get thyroid cancer? Is she not going to have children later in life because of these issues? That’s what I think people need to recognize.” We also hear from resident Eva Turner, who won’t let her grandkids swim in the now contaminated creek, the way she did as a child and her own children did; Tim Hargrave, whose family has long farmed in Steuben County; longtime activist Wayne Wells; Michael Volino, the Thurston town supervisor, and Doug LaGrange, the supervisor of New Scotland, who are helping lead their towns in opposing the practice. Sewage sludge is rich in beneficial nutrients but is also saturated with toxics because treatment plants mix together both household waste and industrial/commercial waste. Added to the mix is “leachate” from landfills, contaminated water that continuously leaches out of a landfill as a result of precipitation. Leachate is loaded with PFAS forever chemicals but is “disposed of” in our sewage treatment plants, which are not equipped to remove or detoxify toxic chemicals. The PFAS saturated sewage sludge is then spread on our farmland and contaminates our water, or it is put back in frequently unlined, unprotected landfills. Sierra Club tests in the Steuben County towns of Thurston, Bath, and Cameron where sewage sludge from Casella was spread found PFAS contamination in wells and waterways. 1 in 8 private drinking wells next to land that was spread with sewage sludge had PFAS levels above the maximum contaminant level set by the EPA for drinking water. There may not be any safe level of PFAS in drinking water. In the face of overwhelming evidence of health and ecological harms, Maine and Connecticut banned the spreading of dangerous sewage sludge on farmland and the sale of sewage sludge-derived “compost” in stores. And so did the small towns of Thurston and Cameron featured in the 12-minute film (as did Goshen, NY), while Albany and Schoharie counties issued moratoria on the practice. “I think New York State, the counties and towns in New York are helping lead the way. They are looking at the land application of sewage sludge and just seeing how wrong it is,” Just Zero’s senior scientist Laura Orlando says in the documentary. The making of the documentary was supported by a grant from the Maine-based Broad Reach Fund. For more information, visit: https://www.sierraclub.org/atlantic/s...