Albany County has enacted a 90-day pause on the use of human biosolids in agriculture.
Announcing the moratorium Monday, County Executive Dan McCoy says it’s meant to give local officials time to study potential health effects and prevent damaging the county’s farmland.
“We're talking about human waste from bathrooms and kitchens that is later used as fertilizers on our farms. It's a nutrient-rich option. However, it poses the risk of severe health concerns due to contaminations inside them,” McCoy said.
The Democrat and environmental advocates are pointing to so-called “forever chemicals” like PFAS that have been linked to ill health effects including cancer.
The moratorium will also give the county Department of Health time to test wells.
New Scotland Town Supervisor Doug LaGrange says the nose knows.
“This was brought to our attention because of the smell it created. It was really, really bad, and people started complaining. Then we found out about it. It was a singular farm, I believe, that used rented property to put it on and again, ignorant, and I don't mean that in a bad way, just didn't understand the implications that are involved in this,” LaGrange said.
LaGrange is a former eighth-generation dairy farmer.
“I never really dug into it until we had some issues in New Scotland come up with dumping and storing in the fields. It's alleged- and probably correctly- that some wells were tainted with E. coli nearby,” LaGrange said.
LaGrange says biosolids pose different risks than animal waste.
“I don't mean this as a generalization, but folks that are on municipal sewer will tend to be a little more cavalier with what they throw in, you know, ‘I've got this. I've got, you know, that, and, I throw it in and flush it's gone, I don't have to worry about it,’” LaGrange said.
McCoy says only two county farms had been allowed to use biosolids in farming.
“There's probably other ones we're not sure of because, like I was saying earlier, that a lot of the stuff comes in from Mass[achusetts] and other areas, so it's not tracked. So, obviously one of the things we're working with the DEC and Encon is to find a way to make sure we can track the biosolids coming into our communities,” McCoy said.
The New York State Departments of Agriculture and Markets and Environmental Conservation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The New York Farm Bureau says it does not support restrictions on the use of biosolids, adding it supports “the education of both farmers and the public on the benefits and concerns of using biosolids as a source of fertilizer.”
Caitlin Ferrante is Conservation & Development Program Manager with the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and also chairs the Town of Guilderland’s Conservation Advisory Council.
“These impacts are on our air, our water, our soil, and we're finding out more and more how they're impacting our farming communities. And it really is a crisis, and the farmers should not have to be bearing the use of these toxic chemicals,” Ferrante said.
Despite potential effects, LaGrange says he can’t fault farmers for using the waste.
“It's even to the point where they'll pay the farmer to take them. So I don't know if that was what happened in this case. But if it costs you $100, $150 an acre to fertilize for your corn for the year, if you can save that when you're planting…,” LaGrange said.
County Executive McCoy says farmers who continue to spread human biosolids will be subject to a daily fine of up to $1,000.
UPDATE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION:
"New York is a national leader in responding to the threats posed by emerging contaminants like PFAS and the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) continues to advance efforts to regulate these contaminants."