Moxee residents raise stink over proposed biosolid dump

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The city of Yakima has been transforming human waste into fertilizer-grade biosolids at its sewage treatment plant for years. It is a common industry practice that's benefited farmers in the Lower Valley.

But a proposed deal to have Roy Farms use the fertilizer in the Moxee area has riled up residents of a Terrace Heights subdivision.

"Why would they dump stuff like that in the middle of a housing tract?" says Vern Upson, a retired defense industry consultant who has lived in the Hi Valley View subdivision for 30 years. "That's stupid."

Local officials are hosting a public meeting next week to dispel misconceptions about using treated human waste from Yakima's sewer plant as fertilizer. They're also hoping to persuade residents that the process is safe and beneficial in an agriculture-based community.

The Yakima Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility produces roughly 8,500 tons of the material every year, and most of it ends up on farms in the Lower Valley.

Biosolids are processed human waste that have been repeatedly de-watered and baked into a thick, black, gel-like state. Wastewater utility engineer Max Linden compared it to peat moss, "only not as dry."

"It doesn't leak or run. It's a solid," he explained. "And it's got fantastic nutrient value as a fertilizer."

To date, the city has been paying a Sunnyside outfit known as Natural Selection Farms for the privilege of taking biosolids off the city's hands. Natural Selection then "land-applies" the material to client farms throughout the Lower Valley.

Roy Farms would do it for free. City officials estimate considerable savings of anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 in tipping fees as well as reduced fuel costs. As before, the city would still shoulder the cost of delivery, but the distances would be shortened.

"We supply it, they apply it," Linden quipped.

It's the applying part that concerns the residents of Hi Valley View the most. They worry about a lot of things, including chemicals, dust, truck traffic and odor.

Especially odor.

"I can't imagine what it's going to smell like," says Vernon Woods, a Charter Cable technician whose home next to Upson's place commands stunning views of Mount Adams and Mount Rainier. "It's not a good thing, I'm sure."

In recent weeks, he and many of the residents of Hi Valley View received highly technical notifications from the city of Yakima warning of a "land application" plan for biosolids, a term of art in the wastewater industry that many residents had been unfamiliar with.

Formally known as the Hi Valley View Water Association, the subdivision borders one of the dozens of fields and orchards that Moxee-based Roy Farms operates across the East Valley. Despite its suburban feel, the area is in the county and is zoned agricultural.

Laurie Penuel didn't get one of the notification letters because her home on St. Hilaire Road lies just outside the notification buffer. She doesn't think odors are stopped by points on a map.

"That odor's going to go a heckuva lot further than 300 feet," she complains.

City officials acknowledge biosolids are smelly. On the other hand, they swear other types of big-farm fertilizers and chemicals are much worse.

"Chicken manure is highly stinky, very bad," says Tim Cooper, the city's biosolids chief operator, who adds, "Hop waste is also very gross."

Moreover, fields would receive a batch only once every other year or so. And rules enforced by the state Department of Ecology, which permits the agricultural use of treated biosolids, require the material be tilled into the soil within 24 hours of delivery.

It remains unclear how many residences besides those in the Hi Valley View subdivision would be affected by the deal. The city sent out 165 notifications to property owners within 500 feet of Roy Farms property, but not every property is necessarily a residence.

The city also has been negotiating a similar deal with WS Farms of Zillah. City officials said another 29 notifications were made to property owners neighboring WS Farms property.

Jeff Peters, Yakima assistant planner who has been handling the notifications, said he's received at least a dozen calls about the proposed deal as well as three letters. Residents in the Hi Valley View neighborhood have been the most vocal but residents in other parts of East Valley have also raised questions.

Most of the callers had seen large warning signs in the area, notifying the public of a pending land-use change, and were more worried about new subdivisions and other development than biosolids, he said.

"Once we explained the situation, they were satisfied," Peters said, theorizing that part of the problem is "the word biosolid kind of sounds like biohazard."

"People just don't know much about the wastewater treatment process," he said, adding, "There may be some misconceptions."

That's why officials representing the city as well as the Department of Ecology and the Yakima Health District have scheduled a meeting Monday night at the Yakima Area Arboretum.

They hope the meeting will prove educational.

"I think it will take care of a lot of people's concerns," Peters predicted. "Once it's treated, biosolids are no different than any other type of fertilizer."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Roy Farms said the company won't ink a deal with Yakima if it upsets neighbors.

For that reason, Les Roy said the company supports Monday night's meeting and hopes people attend.

"It's not a new problem that just cropped up in the last day or so," he said of biosolid disposal, adding "It's going somewhere, you know?"

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.

Meeting

WHAT: A public meeting on the use of biosolids as fertilizer

WHEN: 7 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Yakima Area Arboretum, 1401 Arboretum Drive (across from the Nob Hill Kmart)