Burlington Iowa - Sludge not a priority
This could be fun to follow... Search powered by FreeFind
Friday, July 25, 2003
Sludge not high priority
Property owners near storage building for waste not complaining, yet.
By JAMES QUIRK Jr.
jquirk@thehawkeye.com
Property owners within a 1,000 feet of the former Rutheford Potato Building are
apparently not concerned it will soon become a sludge storage facility.
Don Fitting, wastewater treatment plant superintendent, scheduled several tours of the
plant over the next week — the first tour was held Thursday night — to give those
with properties near the building a chance to ask questions about its future.
Fitting sent letters to 53 property owners within 1,000 feet of the building, but only
Ann Marie Stout, 712 S. Third St., and representatives from The Hawk Eye
responded to request a tour. Stout simply wanted to tour the plant.
"There could be various reasons why they don't want to come," Fitting said. "It could
be that people don't have any real complaints about what's going on. It could be they
think the city doesn't listen to them and it's not going to do them any good for them to
come down, anyway. Or, it could be they are just waiting to see what happens and
have plans to contact us if a problem arises."
The city plans to use a 12,800–square–foot portion on the south end of the building, which is about 250 feet to the
east of The Hawk Eye building at 800 S. Main St., to store sludge.
The sludge is used by farmers as fertilizer, but when something, like inclement weather, prevents plant operators from
shipping it to a farm, it builds up in the plant system, Fitting said. The city needs a place to store the material to
prevent too much of the material from building up.
Fitting said the city will be leasing space from Burlington River Terminal. If problems arise, the city can pull out of the
lease.
Fitting describes the material as "a dry cottage cheese."
Stout, after touching the material, categorized it as "spongy ... it feels like Play–Doh."
"I had one guy call up who said he didn't like the idea we were spreading human waste on a field (near his home),"
Fitting said. "I told him this stuff doesn't smell anything as offensive as cow manure or pig waste, but odor is in the
nose of the beholder."
Friday, July 25, 2003
Sludge not high priority
Property owners near storage building for waste not complaining, yet.
By JAMES QUIRK Jr.
jquirk@thehawkeye.com
Property owners within a 1,000 feet of the former Rutheford Potato Building are
apparently not concerned it will soon become a sludge storage facility.
Don Fitting, wastewater treatment plant superintendent, scheduled several tours of the
plant over the next week — the first tour was held Thursday night — to give those
with properties near the building a chance to ask questions about its future.
Fitting sent letters to 53 property owners within 1,000 feet of the building, but only
Ann Marie Stout, 712 S. Third St., and representatives from The Hawk Eye
responded to request a tour. Stout simply wanted to tour the plant.
"There could be various reasons why they don't want to come," Fitting said. "It could
be that people don't have any real complaints about what's going on. It could be they
think the city doesn't listen to them and it's not going to do them any good for them to
come down, anyway. Or, it could be they are just waiting to see what happens and
have plans to contact us if a problem arises."
The city plans to use a 12,800–square–foot portion on the south end of the building, which is about 250 feet to the
east of The Hawk Eye building at 800 S. Main St., to store sludge.
The sludge is used by farmers as fertilizer, but when something, like inclement weather, prevents plant operators from
shipping it to a farm, it builds up in the plant system, Fitting said. The city needs a place to store the material to
prevent too much of the material from building up.
Fitting said the city will be leasing space from Burlington River Terminal. If problems arise, the city can pull out of the
lease.
Fitting describes the material as "a dry cottage cheese."
Stout, after touching the material, categorized it as "spongy ... it feels like Play–Doh."
"I had one guy call up who said he didn't like the idea we were spreading human waste on a field (near his home),"
Fitting said. "I told him this stuff doesn't smell anything as offensive as cow manure or pig waste, but odor is in the
nose of the beholder."
posted by Sludge at 7:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home