Conducted at geographically diverse sites around the United States, the WQC's research has shown that the risks of exposure to pathogenic organisms, including bacteria and viruses that inhabit the human digestive system, are very low as little as 60.96 meters (200 feet) away from the sites where
biosolid fertilizers are applied.
According to Ryan Schuler, environmental compliance supervisor for Illinois American Water and manager of the residual and
biosolid reuse program, the partnership is a best practice supported by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
With four test plots, they experimented with different amounts of
biosolid coverage that, by the end of 2014, had successfully treated 25 hectares of tailings.
Sewer sludge is currently thoroughly treated and dried out, but the remainder of the '
biosolid' remains are unused and sent to landfill.
It is worth pointing out that the variation in the
biosolid chemical composition is related to the origin, collection period and forms of treatment and stabilization, which leads to a wide multiplicity of results.
The
biosolid was collected from the El Salitre wastewater treatment plant (in Bogota) and the ash was obtained by burning the
biosolids to temperatures of over 550[degrees]C in a furnace for manufacturing ceramic elements.
Total metals in soil and
biosolid samples were analysed using a Bruker (Karlsruhe, Germany) S4 pioneer wavelength dispersion X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer (WD-XRF) equipped with LiF (200), Ge, PET, ovo-55 crystals with detection limits between 10 and 100 [micro]g [g.sup.-1] for soil (Schlotz and Uhlig 2002).
The
biosolids have been processed to kill pathogens, and EPA strictly regulates
biosolid use to ensure the materials don't harm the environment, human health, or animal health.
They applied 0.2 kilograms of
biosolid to each tub, amending the fertilizer with 11 milligrams of silver nanoparticles per tub (this concentration is within the range that the EPA reported finding in a recent survey of
biosolids from water treatment plants).
relationship between an individual's reported symptoms and the proximity, timing, and duration of
biosolids land application;