PLYMOUTH, Maine — A group of residents is asking the state to do more to address water pollution and odor caused by a local fertilizer processing plant that uses septic waste and sludge to produce its products.
Groundwater tests conducted earlier this year at Soil Preparation Inc. show contamination that exceeds state drinking water regulations, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Contamination was first discovered in 2011 when the company was ordered to dig wells on its property and begin testing for pollution, and local residents say that little has been done since to clean up the water and address their complaints about persistent odor.
“We have multiple concerns, and we’re tired of hearing, ‘They are working on it,’” resident Stacie Norris said last week.
In May of this year, 18 violations of Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Maximum Exposure Guidelines for drinking water were found in test wells at the site, according to Maine DEP.
“The Department is actively following up on Notices of Violation that have been issued by ME DEP, most recently on August 7, 2015, as well as any recent odor complaints,” Maine Department of Environmental Protection spokesman David Madore said Friday in an email when asked about the state’s response to the residents’ concerns.
Residents are particularly worried about contaminated groundwater, which the DEP confirmed has not improved since testing began four years ago.
“The May 2015 groundwater quality data continue to reveal the presence of site-related contaminants at concentrations comparable to those observed since monitoring began in 2011,” Richard Behr, Maine DEP environmental hydrogeology specialist, said in a Sept. 2 letter to Rick Haffner, project manager for the Bureau of Remediations and Waste Management’s residuals utilization unit. “Contaminants are found in both the surficial and bedrock groundwater.”
The primary contaminants include ammonia, arsenic, iron, manganese, nitrate, total nitrogen and total organic carbon, Behr said later.
Many of the listed contaminants are known to cause sickness in humans at high levels. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates nitrate levels in private and public water supplies. Nitrate may cause health problems in amounts greater than the drinking water standard set by the EPA, which has a limit of 10 mg/L. At least four of the May tests at Soil Preparations Inc. had nitrate levels that were equal to or exceeded the standards.
“Infants below six months who drink water containing nitrate in excess of the maximum contaminant level could become seriously ill and, if untreated, may die,” the EPA website states. “Symptoms include shortness of breath and blue baby syndrome.”
Soil Preparation Inc. opened two decades ago and is licensed to accept septic waste and sludge for processing into organic non-food crop fertilizers. It has been using alkaline stabilization with subsequent accelerated drying, known as the N-Viro Soil Process, since 2000, according to a DEP memorandum. The process includes stockpiling the N-Viro Soil on the property. When it rains, the water washes contaminants into the soil, the data show.
“That precipitation moving through the remaining uncovered stockpile N-Viro Soil leaches a variety of nitrogen containing compounds,” Behr said. “A significant quantity of organic carbon continues to be leached to groundwater.”
Groundwater samples collected between October 2011 and May 2015 “reveal arsenic exceedances” at three locations, he added.
“In summary, the water quality data available through May 2015 continues to reveal a variety of site-related contaminants in groundwater,” Behr said.
The DEP hydrogeology specialist suggested additional studies look into the “magnitude and extent of contamination at the SPI facility. However, the collection of additional data will not alter the most obvious remedial measure: reducing, to the extent practicable, the volume of exposed N-Viro Soil.”
He also said that residents’ concerns about contaminants at the plant affecting private water supplies on Moosehead Trail and Etna Road are unfounded.
“While I appreciate the concern, in my view, it is extremely unlikely that site-related groundwater contaminants pose a risk to neighboring water supplies,” he wrote.
The concerned residents, who formed a group called the Plymouth Environmental Action Team, are spreading the word about the violations in hopes quicker action will be taken by the Maine DEP to rectify the problem, which also includes repeated nuisance odor violations since laws were put into place to regulate them.
The DEP gave Soil Preparation, the only municipal solid waste composting company in the state, until March 1, 2015, to come into compliance with the state’s new composting rules.
“It’s that old urine smell,” Linda Seavey said last week describing the odor created when the plant processes sludge and septage to make organic fertilizers. Seavey lives with her husband, Mike, on Route 69 less than a mile from the Valley Road plant
“We want the DEP to honor their mission to protect the water, air and land,” she said.
“The best way to describe it is to open up a septic [tank] and smell it,” resident Rick Hall said.
Maine DEP said it has issued various notices of violations to Soil Preparations Inc. and has worked with the company to address the complaints over the years.
Environmental consultant Ted Johnston, who works for Soil Preparations, said the company is aware of the violations.
“Yes, there are some higher than what the state considers acceptable in the nitrates,” Johnston said.
The consultant said company leaders believe some of the contaminants “were there when they bought this facility” and he stressed the important factor in Behr’s report is that the DEP specialist said, “there is certainly no contamination off site.”
The company, which employs about 20-25 people, got a DEP permit in the spring of 2014 to install a biosolids gasification line designed to reduce odors in a process that would “bake the odor right out of it,” Johnston said, but a bankruptcy with the producer has delayed the installation.
“The company has been busting their butt to get this gasification plan going,” Johnston said. “Once the gasification [is up and running], there is no odor.”
Johnston said he and company officials understand their neighbors’ concerns.
“There is no doubt that people don’t like the odor,” he said. “It smells like you-know-what. We’ve written a letter to the community. We’ve tried to at least communicate that we’re trying really hard.”
Residents say that they are tired of all the delays and the promises.
“We’re a small little village, and the DEP isn’t really standing behind us,” a woman who attended last week’s Plymouth Environmental Action Team meeting said.
The group’s next meeting is at 7 p.m., Monday, Nov. 16 at the Plymouth grange.