A new biosolids controversy is flaring up outside Prince George.
The City has received permission from the Ministry of Environment and Northern Health to spread the material over farmland on Wright Creek Road in Salmon Valley, sparking concerns from nearby residents.
Andy Angele says a petition against the move has drawn 400 names and asserts the material is full of hazardous substances and the site is too close to a fish-bearing creek.
A similar uproar emerged in Red Rock nearly 18 months ago when the material was spread over a tree farm at the end of Patterson Road.
Biosolids are produced from human waste at the city's Lansdowne sewer treatment plant and have been used as a form of fertilizer on outlying properties, mostly farms, since 1989.
City utilities manager Marco Fornari said a plan is in the works to hold an open house within the next month or so that would include a representative from Sylvis, an environmental consulting firm that specializes in making use of the material.
"It's all about peoples' assumptions and we'll have an open house and they're welcome to come and talk to the city and to our consultants, Sylvis, and we'll hopefully put them at ease," Fornari said.
Fornari said there will be some extra monitoring of the site in Red Rock because it's being used on a tree farm.
"On a [traditional] farm it's incorporated right away into the soils because you're basically discing it right back into the soil," he said. "With seedlings and trees you can't do that, so it has to be surface applied."
Fraser-Fort George Regional District electoral area A (Salmon River-Lakes) director Warren Wilson said he's heard the concerns raised and tried to get a public information meeting held before permission to spread the material on the site in Salmon Valley was received.
"I can understand peoples' concerns and they have to be addressed," Wilson said.
The materials produced at Lansdowne are classified as class B biosolids, which hold more pathogens and heavy metals than the class A version.
It takes a less-stringent process to make class B biosolids but there are greater restrictions on how much can be applied to the land. Moreover, according to the province's organic matter recycling regulation, when the amount of fecal coliform reaches a certain level (1,000 MPN or most probable number per gram) several restrictions come into place, notably that they can be applied only to sites with restricted public access.
Even when below that level, they cannot be applied any closer than 30 metres from water sources and property zoned for homes or recreation and not when the groundwater table is within one metre of the surface.
