335 
‘mcrucuts (Water Pollution Control 
VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2 Pederation) 
’ Letter to the Editor 
Sludge on Land 
In the November 1981 issue of HIGH- 
LIGHTS, we noted with chagrin the story, 
- “Cornell Study Says Sludge Too Toxic 
for Land Use.” This story obviously was 
taken from an August 8, 1981, news re- 
lease entitled,” Cornell Studies Show 
Sludge Too Toxic for Land Use.” This 
news release and the position represents 
the personal opinion of Donald J. Lisk, 
professor of vegetable crops at Cornell 
University. Cornell has no policy on rec- 
ommended sludge disposal practices 
and has never recommended incinera- 
tion as the safest method of sludge dis- 
posal. 
We are concerned with the news re- 
lease because we do not share the opin- 
ion expressed and feel that the position 
is largely unjustified. In general, we 
agree with the position formally estab- 
lished by the U.S. Department of Agri- 
culture, the U.S. Food and Drug Ad- 
nistration, and the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency that it is safe to use 
certain sludges in agriculture. We further 
fee! that the land application of sludges 
can represent the most cost-effective 
means available for controlling this kind 
of poilution in many locations. We feel 
that the growing base of scientific infor- 
mation supports the controlled use of 
land as a sludge management alterna- 
tive. : i 
- The costs of incineration, both in capi- 
tal investment and energy, are unac- 
ceptable for many communities, parti- 
cularly smaller communities. We hope 
that our colleagues will continue to con- 
sider land application as a viable aiter- 
native for the utilization and disposal of 
sludge. 
William J. Jewell 
Lewis M. Naylor 
Raymond C. Loenr 
Richard |. Dick 
Corneil University . 
Oeot. of Agricultural Engineering 
