SLUDGE DISPUTE GROWS; L.A. SUES KERN COUNTY.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer To protect its $45 million investment in its sewage-treatment system, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. filed suit Tuesday against Kern County, where voters have banned the import of sludge on a city-owned farm. Kern County residents voted overwhelmingly in June to prohibit Los Angeles from trucking biosolids biosolids Sewage sludge, the residues remaining from the treatment of sewage. For use as a fertilizer in agricultural applications, biosolids must first be stabilized through processing, such as digestion or the addition of lime, to reduce concentrations of heavy metals and -- or treated sewage waste -- to city-owned Green Acres Farm, where it is spread on the ground as fertilizer. The vote means that in January, Los Angeles will have to send 750 tons of biosolids daily to Arizona or elsewhere at an extra $21 million a year. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges Kern County is violating state and federal laws by banning the legal application of an organic fertilizer. ``We are simply seeking to protect both the economic investment in our biosolids reuse program, our Green Acres Farm in Kern County, and the right of all citizens and municipalities to transport and use lawful products on their own property, wherever it may be,'' said Cynthia Ruiz, president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. . Joining in the lawsuit are the sanitation districts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, which also send some treated sewage sludge to Kern County, and farmers and trucking interests. The city paid $9.6 million for Green Acres Farm in 2000, then spent $35 million to upgrade its sewage-treatment system to meet Kern County's tough environmental standards. However, Kern County leaders have opposed L.A.'s use of biosolids and fear that pharmaceuticals and heavy metals heavy metals, n.pl metallic compounds, such as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and nickel. Exposure to these metals has been linked to immune, kidney, and neurotic disorders. - illegally dumped into the city's sewer system Noun 1. sewer system - facility consisting of a system of sewers for carrying off liquid and solid sewage sewage system, sewage works facility, installation - a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry; "the - could eventually seep into the drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. supply beneath the farm. The campaign to ban L.A.'s biosolids was also fed by public perception that urban L.A. was using the San Joaquin Valley Noun 1. San Joaquin Valley - a vast valley in central California known for its rich farmland Calif., California, Golden State, CA - a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes as a dumping ground. David Price There have been a number of people named David Price:
``You have 83 percent of (Kern County) voters who said they don't want this practice, and the city is in the position of trying to bully us into continuing the practice.'' But Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation Director Rita Robinson said the city's farm and use of biosolids as a fertilizer is safe, and noted that other cities in Kern continue to use biosolids because the ban doesn't apply to them. ``Biosolids have only improved the environment in Kern County, and there is no basis for this ban.'' kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
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