Anderson, Ind. — Anderson city officials were able to deal quickly with elevated levels of PCBs being discovered in biosolids used as fertilizer by some area farmers. Three water pollution control employees reportedly were disciplined for failing to notify supervision when a reporting error was discovered in the utility’s annual report to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). No PCBs were found in samples taken from all farm fields where the biosolids were spread last year. However, higher levels were discovered in a stockpile on one farm where the material was collected and hauled to a nearby landfill. IDEM spokesman Barry Sneed told Green Markets, “The city notified us as soon as the discovery was made while reviewing their annual report that during three months in the summer where it had spiked on the PCBs. They were able to go back and see where the biosolids were being stockpiled by one of the farmers for use on other farms. They’ve taken care of part of the problem, and now they’re looking for the source of the PCBs, which could be from several industrial sources or from some construction that was done last summer, which may have dislodged years of collecting in the pipes. In the meantime, they’ve changed lab procedure and are double checking everything daily.” The highest PCB level found in sampling was 16 parts per million, while the allowable limit for the utility’s permitted use is 2 ppms.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain