March 2009

U.S. Water News Online

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A federal appeals court panel is considering whether Los Angeles can truck sewage sludge to Kern County for disposal on farm fields.

Attorneys have argued at a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing in Los Angeles over whether a voter-approved ban in Kern County blocks interstate commerce and whether it harm's the state's legally mandated recycling efforts.

Southern California attorneys had successfully sued to overturn the ban on the spreading of treated human waste on farm fields, but Kern County appealed.

Los Angeles pays haulers to truck treated sewage waste to use as fertilizer on a 4,200-acre farm it owns. Kern residents worry about groundwater pollution and harm to the farming community's economy.

Click here to subscribe to e-Water News Weekly!