I ran across an article in the Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator about using municipal sewage as fertilizer. I don’t know that it’s done much around here. One of Morenci’s sewage lagoons is filling up, but I don’t think we’ll be spreading. The leftovers from Parker Chemical Company will get in the way. In the past it’s been said that the sediment will have to go to a special (very expensive) landfill.

Anyway, it’s still controversial in Hamilton:

Feces, urine, vomit, blood. Synthetic hormones, heart pills, antibiotics, illicit drugs, Viagra. Bacteria, viruses, E. coli, parasites. Household cleaners, shampoo, solvents, pesticides and traces of arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxins and flame retardants.

Each day, this chemical cocktail is piped from our homes, businesses and industries to sewage plants across the province. The water is filtered and reclaimed.

The solid waste that remains is turned into biosolids, more commonly called sludge. For more than 30 years, Ontario’s sludge has been trucked out to farmland for use as fertilizer.