In These Times: Sewage Sludge Everlasting

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Sewage Sludge Everlasting
Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation jumps on the ‘biosolids’ bandwagon.

By Patrick Trahey


With summer approaching, home garden enthusiasts are looking for an efficient way to increase their harvest. And out in the Bay Area, Francesca Vietor is there to help.

Vietor is executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, the nonprofit arm of celebrity chef Alice Waters’ natural foods restaurant Chez Panisse. The foundation’s mission is to create “edible schoolyards” where kids grow, prepare and eat food from their own organic gardens.

Vietor is also vice president of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which distributes to local schools, businesses and homeowners what it describes as “organic compost.” The dirty secret is that Vietor’s much-touted compost is made from sewage sludge.

In an investigative report by Anna Werner of San Francisco’s CBS affiliate, the SFPUC defended the practice of distributing the sludge-based fertilizer to schools by citing the fact that it passed EPA standards. But as EPA Senior Analyst and whistleblower Hugh Kaufman points out, “Only 1 percent of the hazardous materials in sludge are regulated.” ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5863/sewage_sludge_everlasting