North Saanich Council moved not to support a proposed pilot study to use biosolids on agricultural farmland.
“I am very concerned that we would embark on putting 275 tons of this stuff on a farmers’ field and spending $8,500 doing a couple soil tests and see if it worked out okay,” said councillor Peter Chandler. “As far as application to farmland as this proposed pilot study goes, the message we are sending to the Saanich Peninsula Wastewater Commission (SPWC) is this council does not support that.”
The proposal to use 275 tons of the biosolids on local farmers fields was nixed by council who needed more information before considering the prospect of using treated human sewage for growing food for human consumption.
“We don’t understand what the environmental impact will be… There are a lot of unanswered questions,” said councillor Ruby Commandeur.
Limited information and the issue of islanders potentially turning their backs on local farms growing with biosolids was enough to keep the motion from passing council’s smell test.
However, the SPWC’s proposal of using the treated controlled waste, mixed with soil, as a landfill cover at the Hartland dump was met with a more welcome reception with council supporting the application.