This week's lead news item

Biosolid spreading has NG man concerned for well water safety

By Pete Bock
News Staff

A written notice about the application of biosolids on a Glen Robertson farm left North Glengarry council scrambling for answers last week.
Questions began piling up after area resident Ron Lalonde showed up at a public works meeting Wednesday, seeking assurances that his well will be protected from contaminants when biosolids are applied to a neighbouring property, on Little Russia Road, owned by farmer André Larocque.
Mr. Lalonde received a bulletin in his mailbox from the City of Ottawa the day before advising him spreading activities would take place next month, as early as August 2.
The property owner and his wife told council they have a spring-fed well that is only about eight feet deep.
“Nobody knows where my wells are or anything,” Mr. Lalonde said, adding that he had already had conversations with a consultant with the company who applies the biosolids (Iroquois-based Third High Farms), the Cornwall office of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and the Raisin Region  Conservation Authority.
“What I have seen is that nobody (outside the company) knew anything about it until I started calling.”
The couple stated they were contacting the different agencies to better understand their rights, and to learn what actions they can take if their well is compromised.
Mayor Grant Crack was surprised there was no information from the province included in the notification to the Lalondes.
“Can any municipality take biosolids and throw it into another municipality?” the mayor asked.
Public works manager André Bachand responded that he believed Ottawa could send its biosolids to other townships, and stated that the previous council had listened to a presentation on the subject from a biosolids contractor.
This reply seemed to be inadequate to the mayor. He instructed the public works manager to make some calls.
“Check and see whether legislation actually allows this to happen,” Mayor Crack said.
Land application of biosolids is governed under the Ontario Nutrient Management Act, as well as the Environmental Protection Act, according to ministry of the environment Cornwall office supervisor Jason Ryan.
“Municipalities often choose the option of land applying their municipal biosolids on agricultural fields,” Mr. Ryan said in an e-mail, “and in some instances this land application occurs in other municipalities.”
A ministry Certificate of Approval (C of A) must be obtained before biosolids can be applied to a site.
When an approval is issued, a copy of the certificate is forwarded to the corresponding township. Setbacks from a number of features including wells, residences, residential areas, bedrock, water table etc. are included in the requirements.
The ministry conducts pre-site inspections to confirm information they have received from  contractors is correct before issuing certificates.
Ministry agricultural environmental officer Brent Winters has yet to visit the Little Russia Road property, he says, because the biosolids application for the area property just came across his desk.
“I will go out before I issue the C of A for that site,” Mr. Winters told The News on Monday.
“The (company) consultant tends to send out the notification ahead of time and I think that is what has happened here.”
Sending notification letters to neighbouring property owners is not mandated by the ministry, but is instead part of the City of Ottawa’s best management practices, according to Erik Apedaile, a consultant with Third High Farms.
The Iroquois-based company has been contracted to manage Ottawa’s land application of biosolids program, which includes hauling, spreading and incorporating the material on agricultural lands.
He says it is normal for people to have questions about the program, just like it is with any practice that is introduced to a region.
“We find out when we spread in an area and we come back to that area again, people know what to expect,” Mr. Apedaile said.
“They find out it is not the terrible thing they were initially concerned about.”
He says while Third High Farms hasn’t spread biosolids east of Alexandria, or in South Glengarry, the practice is common throughout the province.
Three North Glengarry properties are earmarked for biosolids this fall.
“It is seen as a mutually beneficial thing,” Mr. Apedaile said. “The city has the material that it needs to dispose of, in a way.
“And it does have a very high nutrient value to it, so it is a valuable material in that sense.” Biosolids are delivered and incorporated into a farmer’s land free-of-charge.
The consulting agrologist says he has been involved with biosolids for about 15 years, while Third High Farms has been in the business for 25 years.
The company and the city are conscious about people’s concerns about their drinking water, he stated, adding that is one of the reasons they offer to take well samples to demonstrate that they are not impacting drinking water.
“We test a lot of wells before and after spreading, and we have never had an incident of well-contamination,” Mr. Apedaile said.
“We haven’t caused deleterious impact to people next to sites, but normally people are a bit anxious if it is a new process in their neighbourhood.”
The consultant explained there is a 90-metre setback from wells under provincial regulations, adding they didn’t locate the Lalondes’ well.
Instead, they assumed the worst case scenario: that it is right on the property line.
“We (took) the 90-metre setback from the property boundary,” the consultant said.
“Quite often when we are out doing (site visits) people aren’t home and we can’t go tromping around people’s property looking for their wells.”
For his part, Glen Robertson area farmer André Larocque said the biosolids will be applied to his farmland, in the fall, after his soybeans are harvested. He will plant wheat on the land in the spring.
(The News tried to follow-up with Mr. Apedaile after our conversation with Mr. Larocque, to clarify why the notification letter stated the material would be spread in August. But he failed to return our call before deadline.)
More information on biosolids can be found by Googling, Ottawa biosolids best management practices.