Biosolids are now being spread on a property in Red Rock and the work has been going on for about a week, city utilities manager Marco Fornari said Tuesday.
"We've had some minor delays due to the heavy rains," he said. "Sometimes we have to shut down and let things dry out a little bit before we can continue."
Once the work is completed, about 60 truckloads of the material will have been spread over a 30-hectare tree farm at the end of Patterson Road East where it's meant to act as a fertilizer.
The project created plenty of controversy for nearby residents when it was first made public slightly more than a year-and-a-half ago, and lingering doubts remain about the potential for runoff of effluent into area water courses.
The material, which possesses peat-like qualities and holds a high moisture content, is made from the sludge at the Lansdowne sewage treatment plant and is classified as class B under the province's organic matter recycling regulation.
It takes a less-stringent process to make class B biosolids than class A, but contains more pathogens and heavy metals and there are greater restrictions on how much can be applied to the land.
