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Land disposal options include landfilling, composting, and numerous 
land application techniques. Potential impacts include: surface 
water and groundwater contamination with chemicals and pathogens, 
contaminant accumulation by plants and animals, the spreading of 
disease by environmental pathways or through direct contact, odor 
raerriarne and enormous problems with acceptance by homeowners and 
farmers. Furthermore, in the case of metropolitan New York, suitable 
tracts of land within a reasonable distance are unavailable for many 
of the land disposal alternatives when considering the large volumes 
of sewage sludge generated by the entire metropolitan New York area. 
The 1981 report by the NACOA recommended to Congress a multimedia 
approach to waste management which "minimizes the risk to human health 
and the environment and at a price this nation is prepared to pay," 
and that ocean disposal of sewage sludge should continue to be a 
disposal option. This concept was endorsed by both the EPA (in their 
letter to NACOA dated 30 November 1981) and by the U.S. District Court 
(80 Civ. 1677). In addition the House Subcommittee on Natural 
Resources, Agriculture Research and Environment supported the multi- 
media (cross-media) assessment concept by making funds available to 
both NOAA and EPA for a multimedia study of sewage sludge disposal 
options. 
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