Keep Biosolids off Farmland

As indicated in the sidebar, preventing the use of bio-solids, which is essentially human sewage sludge derived from residential, commercial and industrial waste water on farmland is a key issue of concern for OCNS. The OCNS is strongly opposed to this practice that is already taking place here in Nova Scotia, much to the surprise and disappointment of many people who live here.

We support the position of the Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN) and encourage you, if you haven’t already, to read their position statement. The NSEN is doing an excellent job of tracking and reporting on this issue. We encourage you to support their efforts, including acquiring signatures for the petition against this practice and sending letters and email to your provincial and municipal representatives, and the premier.

Here’s what we’ve recently heard from Marilyn Cameron, Chair of Biosolids & Waste Water Caucus, Nova Scotia Environmental Network:

This is an update concerning the Petition asking the Province Government to Ban Biosolids which you were forwarded about three weeks ago.  Hopefully, many of you are working on getting a page of two of signatures as support for this initiative. 

The Province of Nova Scotia did respond to Kings County Council with regards to their Biosolids Ban.  They did not seem to say much in the letter except that "the Department of Environment has no mandate to restrict the use of approved products or prevent land application activities in specific counties."  They seem to be suggesting that farmers could ignore the ban and "challenge" the authority of the County should they want to continue using biosolids.  A week or more ago, I have written a letter to Council asking for clarification of what the status is of the Biosolids Ban and have yet, not heard back.  It is unknown whether Kings County Council will want to fight to maintain this ban.  We may need all the petition signatures we can get!   And soon!  

Of interest, in Elgin, Quebec they also imposed a ban on biosolids in their county.  However, a farmer did challenge the ban on land application of biosolids in the Municipality of Elgin.  The County decided to go to court and oppose the farmer and they WON.  The Superior Court based its decision on the "precautionary principle" which states that municipalities are obligated to be proactive in protecting human health and the environment from perceived harms - even if complete scientific evidence is lacking to prove such a harm exists.  

Some good news has happened recently.  The Kings County Federation of Agriculture has passed a resolution supporting Kings County's ban on biosolids.  The Farmers Market Association is currently having discussions about the possibility of establishing a "Biosolids Free" policy for vendors.  Wolfville's Farmers Market has already signed on and, hopefully, many others will do the same.

In the meantime, we will continue to give presentations to other farming communities, including HRM, in the Province and to work on informing the public and food service groups about biosolids and its impact on our health and environment.  Please consider writing a letter or two yourself to a food company in Nova Scotia.  I would be happy to provide you with a list of the major players and their addresses.

Please feel free to return to me any completed signature sheets from the Petition that you have.  I currently have about 65 - 70 completed sheets.  If you have distributed some sheets to some of your favorite shops or markets, please check them once a week and remove any completed sheets in case they get lost or taken from the shop.  Please return the originals and please do not allow signatures on the backs of sheets or on plain paper (without the wording of the petition on it).  You may keep collecting signatures until Christmas, if you are getting a good response.  If it has slipped your mind to collect signatures, it is still not too late to try!  

This is an important issue for all of us. Please make sure your government representatives hear your opinion on this issue!