Bio solids as Agriculture Fertilizer?

 

          Recently I've been hearing alot about the use of biosolids as agriculture fertilizer. Sounds gross right? Yeah I thought so too, so I decided to look a little further into it and I actually don't think its such a bad idea after all. First of all let's get a clear definition of bio solids. According to the Canadian Water and Wste Water Association bio solids are nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility. When treated and processed, these residuals can be recycled and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth. Personally I think that using biosolids as fertilizer is quite efficient, as alternatively they would just be taking up space in a landfill or disposal facility.

     After treatment and processing, bio solids can be recylcyed and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth. This controlled land application of bio solids completes a natural cycle in the environment. Using bio solids also greatly reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. More waste water plants are becoming capable of producing high quality biosolids, and this is creating an even greater opportunity to use this valuable resource.

     Using bio solids as fertilizer has lots of pros, for example it creates jobs, it is a cost effective method of disposal, it recycles versus filling landfills, promotes farming,  reduces emissions from transportation to landfills, it is an effective and free fertilizer, it improves soil fertility, enhances soil structure moisture retention and soil permeability, and adds organic material that helps to maintain good soil. So far I've only mentioned the positives of biosolids as agriculture fertilizer, but believe it or not, there are some cons. They include being a potential health hazard, irreversible effects, contamination reslulting from accumulation of industrial waste, possible hazardous chemicals that could transfer to crops, it decreases property value and odor.



     As you can see the list of pros far outweighs the cons, and alot of the cons seem to be a bit superficial and more like worries like the odor, and that we don't really know what is in the fertilizer that we're using. This is why I believe that we are doing the right thing by using bio solids as agriculture fertilizer. Especially considering everything that is happening to our earth right now with global warming etc.. we need to do everything we can to keep it healthy, and using bio solids seems like a natural way to fertilize crops, while using less chemicals hat could harm our earth.


Sources
http://www.biosolidsinstitute.com/faqs/page3.shtml
http://www.cwwa.ca/faqbiosolids_e.asp
http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/wastewater/treatment/biosolids/genqa.cfm

Comments
http://natashasbioblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/give-poop-i-mean-bio-solids-chance.html?showComment=1308152637088#c4001226160995256517

http://danielssbiblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/biosolids-uses-and-
problems.html?showComment=1308152372215#c1594714013520094367