MOUNT VERNON — Lyle David Daniels asked the City of Mount Vernon on Monday to stop hauling lime sludge from the city’s lagoon to a temporary storage site at the city’s water treatment plant.
The water treatment plant is on Old Delaware Road. Daniels’ Clinton Township property abuts the field where the city is spreading the sludge.
Daniels said the sludge has turned into slurry and spilled onto his property.
“Some people don’t think it’s such a big issue; I do. My family does and my neighbors definitely do,” he told council. “Not only the spill, but the fact that they’re putting 60,000 tons of lime sludge behind our home.
“Our concern is property values as well. Nobody wants solid waste behind their home.”
According to Daniels, samples taken from the city’s west sludge lagoon show traces of heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium and more.
Acknowledging the metals were under the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards, he said the samples were taken at 24 inches; the lagoon is 6 feet deep, and Daniels wondered whether the metals might show a heavier concentration deeper in the lagoon.
“I am here to ask council to suspend and cease and halt the moving of the lime sludge to that property,” he said.
Daniels said the city does not have a permit from the EPA to haul sludge from the lagoon to the field next to the water treatment plant. He said that according to the EPA website, the sludge is solid waste, and that terminology is used in the Beneficial Use authorization.
As solid waste, Daniels said, the city is required to obtain a permit under Ohio Revised Code. As beneficial use, he said the sludge is either required to stay in the lagoon or go out to farmers.
“It will not turn from solid waste until it is applied to the farmer’s ground,” he said.
Bret Casey, an engineer with Hazen and Sawyer who also spoke during Monday’s Utilities Committee meeting, assisted the city in applying for a General Permit for Beneficial Use. The permit is for land application of the sludge residuals.
Casey said the lagoon samples met all of the conditions of the general permit.
He acknowledged that the general permit does not cover taking the sludge to a temporary storage site.
“The Ohio EPA has inspected (the temporary storage site.) If there is a permit needed, it would be covered under a different permit. … (The city) doesn’t need one right now,” Casey said.
“That’s a question for Ohio EPA,” he explained regarding why no permit is needed to transport the sludge to the temporary storage site.
Mayor Matt Starr said the city hired an independent contractor to take samples from Daniels’ yard. The samples were taken on Monday; results are expected in about a week and will be shared with Daniels.
According to Casey, the city has five options for handling the lime sludge. He said the most feasible, cost-effective, and immediate solution is to remove the thickened sludge and temporarily store it prior to beneficial use. The other four options present difficulties with end user use, transport distance, and cost.
“Landfill is not a cost-effective solution, and it’s not a sustainable solution, either. So the agency, the Ohio EPA, really is a proponent of beneficial use,” he said.
As to how long the city can store the sludge at the temporary site at the water treatment plant, Casey said there is no limit under the Ohio EPA general permit. Regarding how long it will take the city to dispose of the sludge, he said it was tough to say.
“In this market, there are lots of farmers who want this sort of material. It’s all a matter of getting it trucked to the farmers. You can store it at the farm site once you move it from the site where it’s currently stored and store it at farm site for up to 180 days, so it’s just identifying the farmers that want to use the material.
“My understanding is farmers like this material because it’s easier to spread in a lot of cases than ag lime, and it provides very similar lime qualities as ag lime.”
Councilman Mike Hillier said according to a local farmer, moisture content is a concern. The sludge’s moisture content is about 30%; farmers want about 10%.
“He’s saying he and some other farmers can’t use this because the amount of moisture would clog equipment,” Hillier said.
