FAIRFAX — The owner of a local septic company is applying for approval to spread human septage, a hearty fertilizer, on 49 acres of riverside agricultural land in Fairfax.
While Vermont farmers have been spreading human waste on agricultural land for years — more than a dozen farmers now do so on 29 agricultural fields — residents and Fairfax town officials have expressed concern about the project’s location.
The fields are surrounded on three sides by the Lamoille River, often flood, and are upstream from the town’s popular fishing and swimming areas.
Mark Boyden, who owns the farm fields, and Lawrence Young, owner of Working Dog Septic, are applying for the approval through the state Agency of Natural Resources Waste Management and Prevention Division, which is accepting public comment until the end of the week.
Boyden said the plan will save him from buying commercial manure to spread on the fields, where he will grow feed and hay for cattle. He expects, after the state reviews the plans, that the application process will be safe. “I’m kind of putting my trust in them on this, because that’s what they do for a living,” he said.
He said he doesn’t see a difference between human waste and cow manure.
“This manure, from a cow or from us, with a nutrient management plan and done properly — as a farmer, it’s the same damn thing, you know?” he said.
The raw septage, collected from domestic septic systems through Young’s septic service, would be transferred to a holding tank on the fields and treated with lime in a two-hour process known to eliminate most pathogens.
But some residents are worried about other substances, including pharmaceuticals and PFAS, a toxic chemical group that takes a long time to break down. Earlier this year, state officials discovered high levels of PFAS at seven out of 34 sites where biosolids — the term for sludge from sewage-treatment plants — and septage, which is taken directly from domestic septic tanks, have been applied.
In a letter to the Agency of Natural Resources, the Fairfax Selectboard urged the state, Boyden and Young to abandon the project.
“We strongly encourage the Agency of Natural Resources to consider the potential implications of permitting the spread of human septage so close to the Lamoille River and urge the applicant to seek an alternative site that does not pose the danger of contaminating an essential waterway,” the letter said.
Margaret and Charles Kilpatrick, who live directly across the Lamoille River from the farm field, strongly object to the project, and worry their drinking water could become contaminated.
At a public comment meeting held on video last week by the Waste Management and Prevention Division, Margaret Kilpatrick presented a list of concerns about the site, and said she’s been alarmed reading coverage of PFAS contamination in other states where biosolids are spread.
“The manure from cows, spread in the field next to us, is nothing compared to what can be found in human waste,” she said. “If there is a bad place for it, it is exactly where it is proposed. We have lived here for 20 years, and we have watched that field flood over and over again.”
Boyden and Young say the septage would be applied between April and October, and not during likely flood periods. The plans include a 100-foot natural buffer between the application area and the river.
Young said the septage contains only 0.03% biosolids. In comparison, sludge from sewage-treatment plants contains around 15% biosolids.
According to Eamon Twohig at the Residuals Management Program, the state hasn’t completed its review of the application, but the site will receive certification if it aligns with siting guidelines in the solid waste rules. Those rules are currently being revised, but the new rules won’t apply to this project.
“The solid waste rules have very specific standards for siting anything,” Twohig said. “If there’s nothing in the rules that would prevent it from operating as it is, then it’s possible that it’s going to get permitted.”
Human solid waste is famously difficult to dispose of. When Young doesn’t spread the septage on agricultural fields, which he has done at one other local site, he sends it to a processing plant in New York, or to landfills, where it can produce high levels of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Similar processes occur with sludge from sewage-treatment plants. Agricultural applications of sludge and septage produce fewer greenhouse gases, provide nutrients for crops, and, ideally, soak into the soil.
“Obviously, the only reason we would allow this to happen is that it’s an agronomic application,” Twohig said. “They’re using the nitrogen and the nutrients and phosphorus and micronutrients in this material as a fertilizer. And it’s a very good one.”
Regardless of where the waste goes, Twohig said, PFAS may be an issue.
In monitoring waste, the state has learned that “it’s in everything. It’s in all the waste,” he said. “So, you know, we can’t just all of a sudden pivot and have some great solution for managing all the waste just because we’ve found PFAS in it. Those technologies have not come along.”
Fairfax town manager Brad Dochef said concern is widespread among residents who often kayak, tube and fish in downtown Fairfax, and who use the Fairfax Community Park and Recreation Path, along which the river runs.
“There’s not a tremendous amount of recreational resources in Fairfax, as you might find in some of the larger towns,” Dochef said. “So the river really does serve as a lifeblood for fun and recreation and outdoor activity in our community.”
As for the Kilpatricks, who plan to pursue legal action if the project is approved, Margaret said she’ll be nervous using her property, and would even consider moving. She closed her comments last week with a statement to state officials, Boyden and Young:
“If this does start, and it sounds like it’s going to make its certification,” she said, “I’d like to bring you all a glass of water.”
