“Crapshoot:
The Gamble with Our Wastes,” a documentary produced by the National
Film Board of Canada, commands attention to sewage and how it is handled
Today’s
sewage contains chemicals, heavy metals, hospital waste, industrial
solvents and pharmaceuticals, all of which remain in the sludge produced
by waste treatment plants; this sludge is often repurposed and added as
fertilizer to soil used on farms, gardens and lawns
Like
most people, you may give little thought to waste treatment and how the
items you drop down the drain or flush in the toilet may be affecting
the environment, food supply and public health
By Dr. Mercola
The documentary, “Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes,” produced
by the National Film Board of Canada in 2003, investigates an important
aspect of human life you likely give little consideration: sewage. Do
you know what happens to the water and other items after you flush the
toilet or run water down the drain?
If you’ve never stopped to consider what happens after you turn off
the faucet or put down the lid, this one-hourlong film will edify you.
It may surprise you to learn the many negative consequences resulting
from our so-called “modern system” of waste management.
The True Face of Sewage
Sewers are used all over the world. Through its miles and miles of
underground pipe, sewers collect everything you send down the drain or
flush down your sink. While waste management may seem simple from your vantage point as a single user, it is much more complicated and complex than you may imagine.
If you’ve ever toured your local waste treatment plant, you have
likely seen the mechanical filter called a bar screen that is used to
remove large items such as baby wipes, condoms, diapers,
feminine-hygiene items, hairballs, paper towels, plastic wrappers and
the like.
Although it is somewhat inconvenient, at least these items can
easily be seen, gathered up and disposed of as landfill waste. Of
greater concern are the items contained in sewage that cannot be seen
with the naked eye, as well as the mixing of all kinds of items. As
narrator, the late Ruth DeGraves reminds us of the variety of the
wastes that conspire to make sewage a kind of “toxic soup:”
“Down into the sewer they go: factory run-off, thousands of new
synthetic chemicals, organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, storm
overflow, food wastes, human excrement, vomit, detergents, industrial
solvents, petroleum products, paints, oils, abattoir wastes, cleansers,
asbestos, radioactive materials, heavy metals and dental and hospital
wastes, to name a few.”
In case you are not familiar with the term “abattoir,” it is the
technical term used for slaughterhouse. As such, abattoir wastes
include byproducts from livestock operations such as animal blood, fat,
feces, stomach contents, trimmings and urine. Not only is sewage an
ugly, stinking mess, it also is dangerous due to the intermixing of all
those types of waste.
But, most of us seldom think about it. Boston-based Laura Orlando,
civil engineer and waste-reform advocate, estimates that up to 75
percent of the U.S. is connected to sewers. As such, she believes
Americans have become desensitized to the potential risks involved. In
reality, most people both appreciate the sewer system and take it for
granted.
As noted by Orlando, “When we think about a drain that carries
whatever we dump into the pipe and takes it somewhere else, it helps us
forget about all of the dangerous things that can be in that pipe.”
Sewers: An Ancient Development of the Romans
According to DeGraves, the modern sewer system was a brainchild of
the ancient Romans. She states: “The sewer was in its glory in ancient
Rome. It was about a vision of being civilized, and to have sanitation
meant to be civilized, dignified and ennobled. It was in classical Rome
that the sewers were first built on a grand scale over 2,500 years
ago.”
So enthralled were they with their invention, the Romans paid homage
to a sewer goddess named Cloacina. She was so loved that Roman ruler
Titus Tatius, a contemporary of Romulus, erected a statue of Cloacina
near the famed sewer Cloaca Maxima (“Greatest Drain”).
This masterfully constructed sewer was established in the 6th
century and remains today. Like all sewers, notes DeGraves, the goal
of the Cloaca Maxima centered around: “The collection and transport of
wastes by the use of water. Quite simply, the idea has always been to
use water to move our wastes downstream to where we are not.”
Historian and writer Carlo Pavia suggests the ancient Cloaca Maxima
will always reign supreme in both historic and modern-day Rome. This
is, in part, due to a famous Latin phrase attached to it, which when
translated means: “The Cloaca is the vessel, the bowel of the city,
which purges everything.” But, does the modern-day sewer really purge
everything? Common sense, and the filmmakers, suggest otherwise.
Spewing Raw Sewage: Trouble in Our Global Waterways
It may surprise you to learn that not all sewage is treated. In
cities around the globe, even in these modern times, raw sewage is
still dumped into lakes, rivers and other waterways at sickening rates.
In India, raw sewage has been dumped continuously into the famed
Ganges River since 1917. Once pristine waters now churn with chunks of
animal and human excrement at inconceivable levels of toxicity. Here,
pollution levels are estimated to be 340,000 times what is considered
safe! Veer Bhadra Mishra, an engineer and Hindu priest who lives in
Varanasi, India’s holiest city, notes the river, while not globally
polluted, has local stretches that are highly toxic. Says Mishra:
“When we move from Tulsi Ghat towards the end of [Varanasi],
more and more sewers join the river and more and more sewage flows into
the river. The cumulative effect of all the city’s sewage flowing into
the river is felt at the downstream point where the Yemuna meets the
Ganges, [in the city of Allahabad]. At that confluence point, the river
water is septic — practically no dissolved oxygen, brown-black water
and methane bubbles you can see surfacing from the bottom.”
About the Ganges, The Sydney Morning Herald, states:1
“Experts estimate that more than 3,000 million litres
of untreated sewage from towns along the Ganges are pumped into the
river every day. By the time it reaches Varanasi… it becomes a sewer,
and the sixth most polluted river in the world. Scientists … have
found the river has a fecal coliform count of more than 1.5 million per
100 milliliters (ml) of water. Water regarded as safe for bathing
should not contain more than 500 fecal coliform per 100 ml.”
Similar to the Ganges, the harbor in St. John’s, Newfoundland,
Canada, was recipient of some 120 million liters (31.7-million gallons)
of raw, untreated waste that was being pumped into it every day. The
waste was so prominent, tourists frequently observed large flocks of
seagulls scavenging for bits of floating human waste.
With such a large volume of input, local experts estimate at least
16 feet of excrement solids rest on the bottom of the harbor,
effectively making it a gigantic toilet bowl. DeGraves estimates 80
percent of Canadian coastal communities dump their sewage raw. Said
Bill Stoyles of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program, which focuses on
environmental and sustainability issues related to watersheds and
adjacent coastal areas:
“There’s a huge mound 20 feet high — a mound of crap just below
the outfall that just keeps coming out. The solids, of course, drop to
the bottom and pile up there, and the other stuff drifts away … We‘ve
come so far, become so civilized, so how can we be … living in our own
filth?”
Untold Types and Quantities of Toxic Chemicals Lurk in Sewage
Given the public’s general lack of education about sewage and sewage
treatment, you may not realize how many toxic chemicals are lurking
therein. Since the 1950s, which marked the introduction of chemicals
into mainstream America, “countless new and unpredictable ingredients
are being added to the sewage recipe,” DeGraves says. “The sewer has
become a super highway for toxic wastes.”
Indeed, the average city generates millions of gallons of wastewater
daily, containing many unknown types and untold quantities of
hazardous components. The goal of sewage treatment is to attempt to
clean the wastewater and then release it back into lakes, rivers and
oceans.
While it is called “reclaimed water,” it’s anybody’s guess as to the
effectiveness and safety of this practice. In the documentary,
waste-reform advocate Abby Rockefeller expresses concern about what she
calls “our radical disconnection between us and our waste.” In her
opinion, most of us minimize the consequences of mixing our wastes
together in the sewer. She notes:
“The fact that the consequences of our actions are not immediately
connectable and we don’t see the trouble immediately, makes it
extremely easy for people to go on with their behavior and not think
about the effects. In fact, our entire culture — the educational
system, the industrial system, the government system — all encourage
people not to think about waste disposal.”
Sludge Anyone?
As part of the sewage treatment process, liquid waste and solid
waste are separated. Liquids go on to become “reclaimed water,” while
solids become known as “sludge.” According to the film, sewage
treatment plants produce millions of tons of sludge every year, which
in North America, depending on its intended application, may be known
as:
Biosolids
Black gold
Compost
Nutricake
Sewage compost
Solid waste
As noted by DeGraves, Canada has embraced the notion of repackaging
its sludge as fertilizer for application to farm and garden soil:
“We have embraced the idea of co-composting, wherein two
big-city waste dilemmas are seemingly solved by mixing municipal
garbage and sewage sludge. These waste materials undergo a ‘digestive
process,’ and are packaged as ‘Nutriplus,’ a compost promoted for home
gardens and agricultural use. Nutrient ingredients are listed on this
mixed-waste product, but not the toxins or heavy metals.”
Orlando notes sludge was long considered to be a hazardous waste
until “Part 503 rules recast it as a beneficial, nonhazardous
substance.” (Part 503 refers to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s laws and regulations pertaining to biosolids.) The reality is
sewage treatment was never meant to clean or purify anything. Moreover,
it should never have been suggested sewer treatment could or would
result in by-products that are chemical-free, beneficial and safe for
use by human beings. She emphasizes:
“It never started out that way, nor is it possible to make it
that way. We end up in a treatment process with a very dangerous
material that, most unfortunately, we are now putting into life cycles
and on our land.”
While it is well-known that sludge contains an unknown and extensive
array of chemical wastes, there is also intense pressure being felt by
all kinds of entities to dispose of it. Within the industrialized
world, it seems, the need to dispose of sludge and sewage waste is
almost always prioritized above public health and safety.
Sludge Contaminates Soil and Threatens Human Health
According to Mother Jones,2
recycling sewage has become a big business, with trillions of gallons
of the wastes Americans flush annually being processed into products
that are spread on farms, gardens and lawns. They note:
“In theory, recycling ‘poop’ is the perfect solution to the one
truly unavoidable byproduct of human civilization. Turning sewage into a
potent, inexpensive fertilizer means cleaner rivers and oceans. But as
sludge has spread across the country, so have concerns that it may
cause as many environmental problems as it solves. In communities where
sludge has been used, residents have reported ailments ranging from
migraines to pneumonia, to mysterious deaths.”
Sweden has been called out as one nation that has made a direct link
between sewage sludge and public health. One of the big concerns
highlighted by Gunnar Lindgren, a chemical engineer from Goteborg,
Sweden, centers on the presence of metals, such as copper, found in
sludge. According to Lindgren:
“[T]he levels of metals is increasing very rapidly. Authorities
know they have to accept the presence of metals because they
desperately want to get rid of the sludge … Copper is one metal that is
now presenting us with severe problems. It has risen to a level where
it is a poison for the soils, as well as the organisms in the soils.”
What Mother’s Milk Reveals About the Negative Effects of Sludge
The turning point for Sweden’s handling of sludge reportedly stemmed from the discovery of flame retardants in it that were linked to Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Of particular concern was the dramatic increase of flame retardants
found in mother’s milk. Says Swedish oncologist Lennart Hardell of
Orebro Regional Hospital:
“The concentration of brominated flame retardants in
mother’s milk has been increasing. We have historical batches [of
mother’s milk] in Sweden from the early 1970s, and at that time there
were really low concentrations. Now the curve is going straight up, and
the concentration of these flame retardants in mother’s milk is
doubling every sixth year.”
Lindgren underscores a common-sense reality that whatever we put
into our bodies, our water supplies and our sewer systems eventually
comes out in the sludge. He states, “If you have a poison somewhere in
an industry, you will have the poison in the sludge. … Sludge is a
collection basket of all bad things.” Adds Swedish civil engineer Carl
Lindstrom:
“If you say that broccoli is a healthy vegetable, the next
question is: What is it grown [in]? Broccoli grown [in] one soil can be
very good for you, but if the broccoli contains heavy metals, it can
be very bad for you. To focus attention on what you eat, you have to go
deeper into the question of what is actually in the food, and
especially look at what is in the soil it was grown in.”
Is Your Food Grown in Sludge?
Sadly, nearly half of all sludge is applied to farmland, even though
no one knows exactly what may be in the thick, wet mud. To sweeten the
interest, sludge is often touted as a soil conditioner and it is
routinely offered to farmers at no charge. Various forms of wastes find
their way onto productive farmland under the guise of sludge-based
fertilizers, including paper and pulp sludges, raw-septic waste and
sewage sludge. About this sickening practice, Orlando comments:
“It says a lot about our culture to think we would even take the
gamble to ruin our productive agricultural soil by applying a material
that we know causes great harm. If we have any doubts at all, why risk
putting it on our soil?”
In the U.S., sewage sludge used for fertilizer may contain a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs
due to the fact that many Americans take medications. These drugs are
excreted in your waste and find their way into sewage-treatment plants,
which typically don't adequately remove such drugs. When the sludge is
applied to farm or garden soil as fertilizer, the plants get exposed to
the pharmaceuticals, sending them indiscriminately into the food
supply.
After news about the potential dangers of sludge became public in
Sweden and other countries in Europe, including Belgium and the
Netherlands, authorities banned the spreading of sewage sludge on
agricultural land. In the short term, Sweden turned to burying its
sludge in the ground, focusing first on areas such as motorways that
were perceived to be less-intrusive to human health.
Solar Aquatics: A Unique Approach to Waste Treatment
In Bear River, Nova Scotia, residents resorted to a totally
different tactic. They addressed their sludge waste by installing a
solar aquatics treatment system. In a bold move, they placed the end of
the city’s sewer pipe in the center of town. By doing so, it was hoped
sewer waste would remain top of mind for the community.
While this setup has not necessarily resolved all of their sewer and
sludge-related issues, it certainly has made residents think more
consciously about what is happening to their water and waste. Said Mark
Van Zeumeren, former senior engineer with Environmental Design and
Management, the company responsible for designing and installing the
Bear River system in 1995:
“In the past, it was never in people’s mindset as to
what happened to the water, what they were doing with it … Here,
everyone’s keen to come down and walk through the system … They
identify with their sewage now … This is their sewage and they have to
deal with it.”
Solar aquatics is radically unique in that it employs plants and
microbes to purify waste. Inside the greenhouse in the city of Weston,
Massachusetts, 16 gravity-fed tanks brew sewage with the help of
floating flora. Celery, cherry tomatoes, mint, primroses and water
lilies, as well as a few fish and snails absorb contaminants. Phil
Henderson, chief executive officer of Ecological Engineering
Associates, which owns and operates the Weston greenhouse, shares a few
of the advantages of solar aquatics:3
It produces half or less as much sludge as most industrial plants
Local residents much prefer living next to a greenhouse than a
traditional waste treatment plant, which is generally thought to be an
eyesore
It is a great learning tool for students and the community
Change Is Needed: Steps You Can Take to More Responsibly Handle Waste
No matter what kind of sewage treatment methods we may use to clean
up after ourselves, certain problems will undoubtedly remain unless we
determine to change our ways. Unless we change, most assuredly the
habitual, daily use of all sorts of chemicals, medications and other
toxic substances in our homes, industries and institutions will
continue to burden our sewers.
While the film ended without a clear “call to action,” I would like
to draw your attention to a few potential areas that may fuel your
thinking about how you can become more engaged with, and responsible
toward, waste and waste treatment. If each of us made just one small
change, it would go a long way toward helping us to collectively “clean
up our act.” Some areas to consider include:
Place baby wipes, condoms, diapers, feminine hygiene items, paper
towels, plastic wrappers, so-called flushable wipes and the like in your
garbage can; do not put them down your drain or toilet
Be sure to dispose of hazardous wastes such as motor oil, paints,
pesticides, stains and varnishes, which can contaminate soil and water
supplies, according to the directives issued by your local regulatory
bodies; never flush them down drains or toilets
Take caution with respect to the amount of water, as well as the cleaning supplies, detergents and personal-care products,
you use for car washing, laundry, lawn care and personal hygiene,
because they introduce additional areas where contamination may occur
Keep leaves, trash and other debris out of storm sewers because
those items are often deposited, untreated, directly into natural
waterways, which may be a source of your drinking water
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