Plans to spread sewage sludge on a Plainfield Township preserved farm continue to be mired in controversy, more than two years after the Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority purchased the property.
Continued objections from residents and township officials over the environmental impact of the sludge, known as biosolids, have delayed the start of the spreading, despite the authority’s contention that the product is safe and that it has a Department of Environmental Protection permit to do so.
“We bought the farm to farm it,” authority Chair Werner Fornos Jr. said during a recent tour of the 80-acre site, where deer and other wildlife roamed. “The fact that we’re using our biosolids is part of the process.”
As he drove a utility terrain vehicle on a warm early April afternoon, with a reporter and photographer riding along, Fornos was asked what it would take to gain approval to spread sludge while also taking steps to alleviate the concerns of residents, the township and others.
He said it would likely require court action.
He also added simply: “I’ll say this: We’re not going away.”
Plant manager: ‘I know this is safe’
Biosolids result from the treatment of the Nazareth area’s sewage at the authority’s wastewater treatment plant at 872 Tatamy Road, at the border of Palmer and Lower Nazareth townships.
The Nazareth authority can process up to 1.6 million gallons of treated material per day. Dean Minnich, the manager who has worked more than half his life at the plant, said spreading treated sludge on farms is the most logical and cost-effective option over landfilling or burning the waste.
The authority bought the 84-acre Hower Road farm in November 2021 for $850,000. Before that, it spread biosolids on Palmer Township farmland; it sold the land in December 2021 to a warehouse developer for approximately $53 million.
The plant starts dealing with waste by screening for solid materials that enter the sewage lines — anything big enough to fit down a toilet that is not excrement.
Once wastewater reaches the treatment facility from the homes and businesses in the Nazareth area that the authority serves, it goes through a number of cleansing physical, chemical and biological processes. Collected solids undergo further treatment to produce biosolids. Bacteria gets killed to protect water life, and the treated water — known as effluent — is discharged into the Schoeneck Creek.
Giant tanks and machines are used in the process, including one that spins water out of wet sludge and turns the leftover into the finished biosolids — a material that looks like soil. Workers at an onsite laboratory monitors the process and product.
“I know what comes in. I know what the byproduct is,” Minnich said. “I know this is safe. I would never do anything in my profession to hurt someone else.”
The majority of U.S. sewage sludge is applied to land, according to various agencies including Cornell University’s Waste Management Institute. Risks and benefits are associated with the nutrients, organic matter, chemical contaminants and pathogens they contain.
“We know a lot about human wastewater and sludges but there are plenty of unknowns where we need to be cautious,” said Jean Bonhotal, the Cornell institute’s director and a waste management specialist.
That includes spreading biosolids potentially polluted with a broad class of chemicals known collectively as PFAS. Used in nonstick, water- and grease-resistant products such as clothing and cookware, they have been described as “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade naturally in the environment. They’ve been linked to a variety of health problems, including liver and immune-system damage and some cancers.
“One application of biosolids may be allowable and may have a positive effect on land and plant response,” Bonhotal said. But repeated applications could bring concentrations of forever chemicals and heavy metals to the soil, she said.
Residents adamantly opposed
Despite authority reassurances that the material is safe, neighbors and township officials have pushed back.
“Once they start dumping [sludge] and once our wells are contaminated, there’s no going back. That’s it,” said Richard Uliana. “Once the land is contaminated, we don’t have any recourse.”
Residents such as Uliana and Millie Beahm, who about two years ago formed the nonprofit group Save Plainfield Township, have argued at meetings and in legal documents that disposing sludge on the preserved farmland could threaten their properties, which border the farm, as well as cause damage to streams and wetlands. They also worry about increased traffic from trucks delivering the sludge from the treatment plant.
Odors and other contaminants from the site would affect residents and local activities, including the Plainfield Farmers’ Fair held annually along Route 191 near the farm, the group also says.
Uliana’s ancestors farmed near the authority’s property for years. He and his wife, Meghan, have raised their children there.
“We waffle back and forth about selling our house and moving,” he said. “We’ve gone back to, ‘We’re going to fight this to the bitter end,’ and to, ‘I’m so sick of this; we’re getting out of here.’ It’s on our minds every day.”
Barbara and Alan Gumeny, who moved to the area less than two years ago, toured the authority processing plant last year. While they found the tour informative, they were left with concerns.
“They collect waste; they process it, and their purpose is to get it somewhere,” Barbara Gumeny said of the authority. “That’s their business. Their business is not farming.
“If they were told tomorrow that they cannot put any of their sludge on this piece of property, they would have absolutely no reason to keep farming,” she said.
Plainfield Township in October appealed the authority’s plans to begin the biosolids to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
“The township does not feel that that particular farm is appropriate real estate on which to spread biosolids,” Plainfield Solicitor David Backenstoe said.
A DEP decision for the authority to spread sludge on the farm, which is near Route 191, is on hold, pending the appeal, which is before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. A spokesperson for the Hearing Board said it typically takes 18-24 months before there is a decision, unless a settlement is reached.
For now, the authority has contracted with Synagro Technologies to haul away biosolids from the authority’s wastewater treatment plant to be spread on cooperating Northampton County farms.
More changes ahead?
Save Plainfield Township members have attended monthly authority meetings and enlisted others in the fight. Their effort has drawn attention.
In March, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure told a County Council committee he remains “very skeptical” about using biosolids in farming.
“We have consistently messaged that we are concerned about sludge, the nuisance effect the use of sludge has on its neighbors, the potential corruption of the soil, and the soil that washes into rivers, causing environmental degradation,” McClure said.
But counties can do little to stop the spreading of biosolids, which McClure said is legal under the state’s Right to Farm Act. McClure established a voluntary program in which owners of preserved farmland agree not to spread biosolids.
Though other municipal authorities, in Easton, Bethlehem and elsewhere in Northampton County, can apply biosolids on farms, McClure said state lawmakers need to change the law that allows sludge on preserved farmland.
Republican state Rep. Ann Flood, whose district includes Plainfield Township, did not address the matter of amending the law in email comments to The Morning Call. However, Flood, in questions to DEP officials during a state budget hearing in late February, was told new guidelines are being established that include soil sampling for PFAS.
Richard Uliana hopes efforts by groups such as Save Plainfield Township will leverage government to protect residents while also work with those farmers who wish to use biosolids.
“The good news is we have the township,” he said. “They’ve got some really good attorneys, and they’re motivated, because they don’t want to see this.”
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com .
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