Jan. 9, 2024: Residents near Tum Tum, WA, say they received late notice about Spokane County being in the process of contracting to dump municipal sewage sludge (a.k.a. “biosolids”) on the surface of agricultural ground near Hwy. 291 and McAlister Road. The dumping area has an aquifer under it and drains into Lake Spokane. The neighbors in this community have many questions and little information. They are circulating an online petition to organize a meeting to discuss the proposal. Please consider adding your name.
Sewage sludge is filth, not fertilizer. It’s against the law to expose food crops to filth. Sewage sludge contains toxic substances but is never tested for the hundreds and hundreds of toxins any single batch might contain. Not to mention micro-plastics. Or PFAS. Washington taxpayers have spent billions setting up and maintaining municipal sewage treatment plants all over the state to clean up our wastewater before it’s discharged into natural water systems and yet the state insists on putting all the pollution the taxpayers had paid to remove from the environment right back into the environment to leach into our waterways and poison our wildlife. The state of Washington needs to BAN the application of sewage sludge on agricultural and forest lands. It is reckless to allow the dumping of sewage sludge at McAllister Rd to 2450 feet west of McAllister Rd, from Scotts Valley Rd to 2220 feet south of Scotts Valley Rd, Stevens County or anywhere else. It must be taken to properly-designed hazardous waste landfills or cleanly incinerated at very high temperatures.
Sign the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/halt-biosolid-project-in-tum-tum-area
The Stevens County Board of Commissioners has this “Biosolids Application” on their agenda. The Board meets each Monday and Tuesday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The public can access via video using Microsoft Teams or by phone. Comments may be emailed to the Stevens County Commissioners:
commissioners@stevenscountywa.gov
Commissioners’ meeting schedule:
https://www.stevenscountywa.gov/calendar.aspx