This mornings headlines say very dangerous substances are found in such farms, is it harmful?
A story like this grows more than food and plants it grows wings.
Within months some will find fault with every effort to recycle this by product of humanity.
I Will leave my home, garden In a tank water township cutesy of my recycle system.
Drive past over 300 acres of forestry , powered by a council recycling system.
What danger are we in.
What future for sustainable waste managment.
Or is it a paper Tiger?

its not a great worry belly
when raw serage gets into waterways
the poop[nutrient]...turns one type of algie...
[a plant...into a lower form of animal]...that poisens people[working in that water]..making them dumb...really]

fishermen first noted this
getting blotches...and forgetting things like the way home
but it was found..them being IN the water...was the only way they could get it

of course it applies to anyone in the water
so its important to avoid the waters after floods
or discharges of raw swerage...[ie treat it before release]

but accidental releases..needs to be told to the public
[or else they too get the symptoms...

[it might even be linked to autism]

its a big thing[potentially]
but one we need to be arefull of
whenever were walking in raw sewRAGE

it might also be related to fertilisers
and thjings like dog poop[never put it into stormwater drains

Belly,
At this point I would take it with a pinch of salt.
See what developes from the story, could be a press beat up, with just a little bit of foundation.

I would also think animal manure has the same pathogens and we have been using that raw for centuries and human manure as well in some countries. The fertilizer that I have seen from sewerage farms seems to be mainly lime which is used in the process.

Maybe not wise to use it on playing fields or root vegetable crops but I would think there would be little risk in grain that is harvested or grazing paddocks.

Bit early to jump to any conclusions.

you might recall 5 large fish kills in this year
these are via oppop building up nutrient levels
mutatingthe organism...but

it gets into sea/food..fish/clams.all of it
within the poluted area

thing is eating this stuff
is as bad as workibng in it

also what with the japan meltdown
expect suss thoughts on imported stuff
gabby will be happy

anyhow its an important issue
as its not strictly speaking the poop
but the water born bacteria in the waters

lets just hope medicine[poor medicine delivery]
dont mutate it..into the next supper bug

but seriously
just be carefull out there
mad cow takes twenty years to show its symptoms
and one sick mad cow...can find its way into a million hamburgers

the tubs they mush em into..are huge
there are sure plenty of scare stories out there
so we dont lok to closely at the lies/spin

like ol bin lid getting killed...
in a safe house prison/9 years after he died

[no wonder they had the dna..for the 'test']
he died in a usa hospital pre 911

the rest were dopple gangers..[bad/actors
computer generation and pure spin

that allways seemed to come at the 'right' time
to get bad news off the news...?]

but sing the song
dont worry
be happy

god is love
thats enough for us all

Every story in the Medea is a beat up.
It is in part put together to create a story.
Air blown in to inflating let fly,Medea is a tart.
Some basis in fact in this one.
Strange as it may seem fresh poo is not the problem.
Science has found population and living organisms in the concentrated left overs.
The exact reason we gardeners want to buy and use such, but can not.
It largely reserved,for those reasons, for bigger commercial farms or test bed farms.
Deaths,illness,and plenty of it,have come from even compost and potting mix.
Few would know China,and Chinese market gardeners here, use the fresh product.
We country folk grew pumpkins in the old burial grounds for such waste.
I am aware America has seen food poisoning in green food crops, never seen here.
Of course no Gardner I know would be so silly as to use even Grey water on food.
But this story will grow,some always blow such up to make an issue and Begin a crusade, watch this space.

Belly sewage is the stuff that flows through the pipes and sewerage is the pipe system that carries the sewage.Therefore they are sewage treatment plants.

By the way I met an engineer who was involved in this industy and he devised a system that used the pool filtering system to recycle all water bar sewage for the cost of $800 and Sydney Water were not interested because this would destroy their profits.

Thanks arjay, I needed your expertise
I never started the thread to offend, the substance in question is a solid waste.
Appearing like compost or dirt, we produce many thousands of tonnes of it.
And have done for an extremely long time.
In the 1970,s, about 74 and 75, NSW central coast saw expansion of sewage paid for under a scheme for unemployed.
I saw the plant in operation often, every time we picked a load of pipes up.
It was taken away by nursery men local home gardeners and looked like top soil.
You had to get in a Que to get some.
Like every thing man does some take short cuts.
Maybe we are at risk, maybe not,I understand world wide food contamination is increasing.
America has seen death and illness from green leaf vegetables, a stunning and worrying fact.
I have to retreat,got it wrong, said no sane person would use it on food, they are!
Grew water in use here is on lawns and the roots of trees, fruit too but not ever other food.
This is a growing issue, rather than finding answers and acting far better some will want no further use ,any use of this just watch.
You would be surprised my old mate arjay just how willing some are to start a conspiracy.
We should remember we also turn normal house hold waste in to such and use it much the same.
While we must know why Sydney is many times more contaminated than other parts of Australia, we should not panic.

Dear Belly,

You're right to be concerned. Professor Kerryn Phelps, former Head of the Australian Medical Association raised the alarm in the Sunday Telegraph concerning "a parasite outbreak (from symptoms some of her patients displayed) to the Sydney biosolids strategy, which takes human faeces and turns it into farm fertilizer." Apparently the Sydney bisolids program converts 180,000 tons of partially treated human sewer waste annually into fertilizer for farms and sporting fields.

However, as Professor Phelps points out - "it hasn't been independently assessed for its public health implications." But because of the health risks involved as gastroenterologist Professor Thomas Borody said, "there needs to be an investigation into the biosolids program to give the public certainty that human faeces is not infecting our food supply."

I would like to think it is safe.
And that proper procedures are ALWAYS in use.
But that is not truly something I could believe.
Lexi that saw me start this thread, figures stated Sydney has around 7 times the exposure than the next state.
And we need to know why.
Recycling is the very backbone of sustainability.
Every day gardeners, few of us left, use bagged products that will include this product, without some ever knowing it.
Landscape gardeners will use it too, results matter and bring word of mouth customers so it will be used.
We recycle much this way, anyone bought ordinary road base ridge gravel with one eighth crushed recycled glass in it?
Compost heaps see this introduced to test the microbe activity.
Rubbish of all kinds get composted.
We must continue, but one muck up, one site found half cooking the mix, distributing poison to school or sporting grounds or our food mass growing farms and thousands could die.
Others will know more but given heat ;enough] and time it seems less a problem.
Why one city?

if its being 'done' properly
there can be no problem

but shortcuts/cutting costs etc
who really knows
]
as revealed in usa environmental depts have been highjacked
and simply speaking dont do their job

[too many managers..
not enough indians]

anyhow this waste
if its being composted..[is harmless]
the heat from composting..destroyed and bacteria]

if not composted..then 'maybe'
it is hoped they are both home compsting..
*and collecting the methane/gas..

then worm*farming..in it
[with fresh rubbish and wet..[paper/cardboard..etc]
feeding the worms into a fish farm
then discharges into a mussle farm...etc

ie saving its full best use

but i will bet thats not what they are doing
but if its composted..its harmless
[even if they are releassing methane..[then]..into the sky"

methane is one of the WORST
*greenhouse GASS-ses!

Dear Belly,

If it's being done properly - is the key. And this problem has arisen out of Sydney due to the fact that Prof. Phelps found a link with certain symptoms (parasitic) found in several of her patients - and she's warned of a link to the Sydney program. A thorough investigation should proceed - as apparently the parasitic problem if allowed to spread has disastrous consequences. Another thought has just occurred to me. What about the food imports from countries that use human fertilizers as the norm in their agriculture? How safe are their food products?

Well Lexi maybe the problems are different with raw sewage than this.
Now OUG it may very much be a different product than the one I knew.
But that once the concentrated end product, a solid dry material.
We could be excused for thinking composting kills dangerous microbes.
It has not done so in some potting mix.
Others will know more, but I think the process may well be a breeding ground, safe haven, for some life.
After all such along with composting its self is why we want it.
Gardens glow after any compost is added.
My extensive garden is based on it, spent mushroom composts very much in use .
Lexi I think I went off early, it poses very real problem.
Food from these farms may one day kill many.
Not because it is unsafe ,but because men take short cuts.
With people very ill, dying, in America after eating Spinach, we must be on guard.
Why one city, why about 7 times as much, we will hear much more about this.

dont worry about spent mushroom compost
its great..[just dont be eating it]

as long as you wash your food
and hands....its not a worry

dont stop growing your own food belly
thats what much of their lies are about
they want us to depend on them for our food

[noticed the war on fishing/hunting]
you must work..to afford to buy food

no workie
no eatie

back to work for your supper slave

if your really worried
compost it again

ya cant beat compost
and chook poop

It is all in how the sludge is treated. Heating at extremely high temperatures sterilises the product turning into Agri-ash as described by ACTEWAGL.

http://www.actewagl.com.au/wastewater/treatment/agriash.aspx

It would be fairly easy to access information on how the sewage sludge and wastewater is treated in your area Belly or from wherever the fertiliser is produced.

The only thing that this thread smells of is paranoid simplistic. The active bio, is whats needed:) The washing, maybe a threat to only that keep too clean. Lets face it, All that works on this planet, has worked with us for 100,s of millions of years. Some wonder why there children be come sick...lol......and humans separating themselves is not the definitiveness'of all Iam talking about:)Ok then:)

Back to the planet:) Well thats where you started from:)

Is your separation going to be final?

Are we at the end?....of commonsensical thinkings.

Mother nature.........may I say it:)........at the end of the day, it proves we are.

Gods................I think we've missed the point.

LEAP

Leap, not trying to be rude.
Just honest
Been 40 years from the last day I ran on to a football Field.
But my sidestep is back as good as ever as soon as you post.
Pelican very true, three fellow ham radio operators work there!
My description comes from past bigger population areas.
And the problem , highlighted in Lexis posts is a Sydney one.
My mushy compost OUG is great, but nothing is excluded from ending in my garden.
I can feed 20 or 30 in summer/spring about ten in winter and give it away, fruit too.
Now an unpleasant subject, not going to be a long thread.
But increasing in importance daily.
While off subject consider these points, over 30 got Hepatitis here, raw sewage, not small amounts,truck after truck leaked in to lakes.
Council on north coast dumped it, deliberately, late nights,in to pound that often broke out to sea raw.
We have time and again seen very dangerous substances including 200 liter drums, of poisons dumped road side or in massive amounts in land purchased for that reason then filled and no one aware.
I am unhappy to tell of very awful people you would never think would be so, cutting every corner for cash.
I watched an old building, very intensive fibro very much a danger torn down with machinery,dust rising many feet in the air.
Burnt on the spot, Asbestos rising in the air in black sheets.
Landing on the very roofs that carry water, the only water to drinking tanks.
I had to see ten groups charged with public safety do nothing .
But finally had it stopped.
Only to see it trucked in uncovered loads and burnt again in the midst of a new land development .
Be aware trust no one .

sadly what you say is not uncommon belly
small towns with a few selective business's
can get away with much

[govt oversight is a joke]
or at least i have heard of so many public servants
complaining they are prevented from doing their jobs
thus unable to test water/soil/air..or peoples health

in short there isnt myuch we can do about anything
the poor sucker driving the truck...[usually is..
only the mule...carrying the dope...for a wage]

people are allowed to dump anything on land they own
but more often they only lease it...
then leave the problem behind as they move on
[tyre 'dumps''..are notorious..

but also chemical companies..have for a long time..
simply waterd down their waste..to dump it in caves/holes...watertables/waterways]

asbestos is a huge problem
taking 30 years to show-up

[its asbestosis..that has puffed up
the smoking statistics][if a smokers dies sucking and gasping for breath...and dies the docter says cancer [smoking related]...

not asbestosis...

MAINLY BECAUSE THEY ARNT ALLOWED
to conduct autopcy..

if a docter has GUESSED
a cause of death..[in writing]
and get good numbers..you get govt money

I believe the concern regarding food and crops Belly.

This year for the first time in my life I tasted avocados on rice cakes (rice cakes new to me too).

Two avocados (a half consumed until I noticed the fungus)put me out of whack/normal living around Easter time for a week! Unable to talk or eat anything as the fungus created fungus on my skin, mouth and lips. I sipped water and consumed raw garlic - ouch - diced up in a large cold tub of yoghurt and reeked (not for the meek and mild) for the week.

A week later I trialled a second avocado to see if avocados were the culprit. I messed up the trial by accidentally consuming with the avocado hard green outer skin that gave me the runs and caused a reaction in the mouth again.

Recovered and back on vegies and the odd can of tuna and salad now minus those delicious avocados!

Upon reflection, I noticed that it wasn't until those avocados were soft/over ripe that I suffered a reaction.

Sorry to hear that weareunique, avos are a favorite,have only been for 10 years but love them.
Trying, but failing, to get back on my diet fruit and veg so they are playing a part.
The implications I saw in starting this thread concern me,sustainability seems a must for our future.
And recycling a big part.
Food from China has been found to be contaminated and America is seeing too much of it.
We recycle far more than most know, and I think a return to backyard gardens is coming and some will be unaware of dangers.
As a side issue, needed to build my drive way up, treated sewage from uphill was intruding.
Drained it away, bought road base fill.
Morning after project was finished, by me and hand spread.
My new drive glittered, 12 tonne of gravel? no 4 tonne was crushed glass!
few know what takes place once our recycle bin is empty.
A third of my gravel is glass $25 a meter glass must be cheaper.
My yard proves we can not trust governments or any one to care
Micro manage just my problem, no one doubts the sewage is running in my yard, every one council included understands its source is operating outside the law.
Yet it has continued to run for 4 years.
It killed 4 fruit trees and is killing two more.
Council, intent on doing as little as it can ,has given one month , for the 4th time,for it to be fixed.

That is dreadful Belly, I would be demanding your money back regarding the rip off ie glass fill.

As for the sewerage, the Council should be made to wear the costs of your fruit trees, phone calls and time spent over the complaints.

Send the Council all of the bills.

Wish I could mate.
Truth is we had a out break of Hep b via sewage being disposed of in our lakes system.
And my first concerns went in in 2002.
You just can not move this council.
Loved those trees lemon 2 apples and the best of all my Navel orange near dead.
Planning a bit of a trap, news Medea has all correspondence and 3 state decs from others, they will be here on next council inspection.
The glass? looking into it, how can a rock crusher crush glass safely.
Dust and more in the air is a concern for those working there and at my home.
Will look in to it.
Bottom line seems clear,take my back yard,know every word is true,and think how many things like this take place.
still have fruit trees away from neighbors swamp, and turning the swamp back in to his yard soon no answer but he may act if it hurts him, not me sad old world.