Centerville Township cedes to EGLE in dispute over using sewage as farm fertilizer
Photo of Catherine and Scott Collins by Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio
By Ellie Katz and Izzy Ross
Sun contributors
This story was originally reported by Interlochen Public Radio in mid-March.
Last spring, a farmer in Centerville Township started applying a kind of fertilizer to his fields: Sewage pumped from septic tanks, often called “septage.”
That kicked off a local fight about whether it’s legal to apply that septage waste and sparked concerns about contaminating the land and water.
Neighbors and officials concerned about the use of septage to fertilize fields pointed to the township’s zoning ordinance which requires a special permit for septage application on land.
The township sent a cease and desist letter last June to the landowner and Williams & Bay Pumping, the company doing the application.
But Centerville Township attorney Chris Bzdok said at a township board meeting in mid-March that their hands are tied when it comes to stopping the use of septic tank waste on a local farm.
“This is going to be a frustrating discussion, so I’ll give you the bottom line up front,” he said as he began his briefing. “It is my legal opinion that there is nothing the township can do under its zoning authority at this time.”
The site falls under the purview of the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which had granted a permit to use septage at that site. Williams & Bay told IPR that it checked on its right to continue applying septage and that it’s complying with state septage application regulations, which are found in Part 117 of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.
In this instance, state law overrides the township’s ordinances.
Bzdok said that wasn’t the case in the mid-2000s, when the zoning ordinance was amended to address septage application. Back then, the township had more authority to decide on such issues. But laws changed and placed that authority with the state.
“The laws that govern these things severely curtail the township’s zoning authority—any township’s zoning authority—over the land application of septage waste in Michigan,” he said.
That explanation didn’t go over well with those at the meeting.
“This is not acceptable on any level in my book,” said Kama Ross, a former Leelanau County commissioner, who spoke during public comment. “This is our groundwater. This is our groundwater. My well is within distance of this. Many people in this room live very close.”
Ross urged people to take action by forming a group and talking to regulators and other leaders.
Williams & Bay has permission to resume injecting at the site this month.
Cherry trees out, septage in
When Scott and Catherine Collins first moved to rural Leelanau County, they were surrounded by cherry trees.
But a few years ago, their neighbor tore those cherry trees out. Then a letter came announcing some changes to the farmland across from them.
“All of a sudden, that tank got put in, and then trucks started filling up the tank,” Catherine Collins said.
Those trucks were hauling septage—waste pumped from domestic septic tanks—to be injected into the fields.
“The smell is horrendous when they’re offloading those trucks in the summertime,” said Scott Collins, sitting in front of a window that faces the fields. “It’s like standing next to an open sewer. … When the south wind’s blowing and we have our house open, we have to shut all our windows.”
But their main concern surrounded what was in that septage.
“I’m very concerned about our wells. Everybody that surrounds this property, you know, what is going into the water?” said Scott.
They’re worried about contaminants like pharmaceuticals and PFAS getting into the water table. The long-lasting chemicals cause a number of serious health effects.
And when Catherine looked into local laws, something stuck out to her: Centerville Township had an ordinance preventing septage application on land. And in cases where application was allowed, it required a special permit from the township.
“They had never applied for the township permit,” she said. “And that’s when we found out they weren’t ever going to apply for the township permit.”
Local law versus state law
Soon after the township got word of the septage application, it issued a cease and desist letter to the landowner and to the pumping company, Williams & Bay Pumping.
The landowner, Bob Eitzen, did not respond to IPR’s requests for comment.
Lynden Johncock, who co-owns Williams & Bay Pumping, says the company reached out to EGLE, which regulates septage application in Michigan under Part 117 of Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.
“And it was not applicable to us per the state of Michigan, because we had received the right to be able to do land application by EGLE,” Johncock said.
In other words, the state told them Centerville Township’s ordinance didn’t apply to them.
So, Williams & Bay didn’t follow the township’s cease and desist notice, and kept applying septage until the ground froze this past winter.
“There is, for good reason, a very emotional component to this for a lack of understanding,” Johncock said.
He points to the documents: The site is fully permitted by EGLE. And all the criteria and inspections required by the state were signed off on by the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department.
Both agencies say the site and the septage application are above board.
But Centerville Township’s ordinance says haulers must take the waste to a nearby septage treatment facility, like the one in Traverse City, if that facility has capacity.
Greg Merricle, with EGLE’s septic program, says there’s a few reasons why that ordinance doesn’t stand, at least in the state’s eyes.
“In order for a township or a county to have that ordinance that says, ‘You must take it here,’ they have to provide a wastewater plant within those boundaries that has the capacity to collect all of that material,” he said.
Traverse City’s plant isn’t within Centerville Township’s boundaries, or jurisdiction, he said. And closer plants, like in Suttons Bay, accept only holding tank waste, not septic tank waste.
The second reason has to do with a radius. Traverse City can technically accept septage from anywhere within a 25-mile radius.
Most of Centerville Township falls within that radius. But because Williams & Bay has enough storage capacity, the state says they don’t have to haul it to Traverse City.
All of that aside, neighbors still have one big concern: Will this septage contaminate their drinking water?
To answer that, it’s important to understand what septage is and what it isn’t.
Septage and sewage sludge
Septage is waste from domestic septic tanks, including homes, bathrooms at businesses and even port-a-potties.
It is not sewage sludge. In Michigan, that refers to a final waste product from wastewater treatment plants. Sewage sludge is also often called biosolids.
“Generally speaking, biosolids are much more concentrated,” said Sara Heger, who researches sewage at the University of Minnesota’s Water Resource Center. “A septic tank is primarily liquid. … A typical waste from a wastewater treatment plant is often de-watered and generally has higher concentrations of many of these contaminants we’re talking about.”
Including things like metals, pharmaceuticals and PFAS.
For a long time, biosolids have also been applied to farm fields as fertilizer. And in some places, that’s had devastating results.
An organic beef operation in Livingston County was shut down for PFAS contamination in its cattle and fields after years of applying biosolids.
Several farms in Maine were rendered unfarmable for the same reason. Maine actually became the first state to ban the application of biosolids in 2022.
(The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still hasn’t issued standards for PFAS in biosolids applied as fertilizer.)
Because of this, biosolids are a much bigger concern for regulatory agencies like EGLE, but that doesn’t mean PFAS and other contaminants aren’t in septage.
“Depending upon the contaminant we’re talking about, you’re going to find it in biosolids and you’re going to find it in septage,” said Heger. “But in general, because of how biosolids are processed, they tend to have higher concentrations of everything.”
Merricle, with EGLE, says they’ve sampled some septage for PFAS in Michigan. Based on what they’ve found, it’s not a big concern for them.
“Septage should be very, very low, and we’ve found it to be very, very low in PFAS,” he said. “Your exposures inside your own home from the products you’re using are going to be greater than the percentage of that product that goes off into the septic tank.”
Products like microwave popcorn, cookware, shampoo, waterproof mascara, dental floss and more all contain PFAS that can wash down the drain.
“We’re going to focus our efforts on biosolids right now, because the PFAS potential in septage theoretically should be very small,” he said.
Theoretically, because, if someone’s doing something industrial at home, like tanning their own animal hides and flushing it down the drain, Merricle said, it could drive up PFAS levels in septage.
But that’s rare, and not reflective of normal septage. However, elevated levels of PFAS in septage have been detected in private residential wells near an industrial park in Cadillac. Officials are still trying to determine a cause.
Applying septage to fields as fertilizer, like in Centerville Township, doesn’t require testing for things like PFAS or pharmaceuticals per state law.
For the most part, research has shown that PFAS doesn’t break down in soil very easily.
But near that farm field in Centerville Township, the water table is often 100 feet or more below where septage is injected, according to the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department. State law only requires 30 inches of separation.
State and local authorities say testing private wells is the responsibility of the owner.
‘Never in my wildest dream’
Despite all that, when Catherine Collins and her husband Scott moved here several years ago to start their own farm surrounded by cherry trees, this wasn’t what they envisioned.
“We knew it [may] never always be cherry trees, but it would be some kind of agriculture,” she said. “Well, never in my wildest dream did I think that farming would be injecting sewage on a field across from the street from my house.”
And Scott says that while they’re not anti-agriculture, they do want more safeguards on what the farm across the street is putting into the ground.
He recently met with staff members of State Sen. John Damoose and State Rep. Betsy Coffia. Scott says he wants to work with state lawmakers to change state law to stop or better regulate the spreading.
For now, the state says that septage application is legal, and Williams & Bay Pumping has the right to resume pumping this month.
Ellie Katz and Izzy Ross are reporters for Interlochen Public Radio (IPR). Reporting from Ross is done through a partnership between IPR and Grist.
Williams & Bay Pumping’s response
Lynden Johncock, owner of Williams & Bay, emailed the following response to the Glen Arbor Sun in an effort to clarify the company’s position on applying septic waste in Centerville Township.
“Those truck were hauling septic waste—waste pumped from domestic holding tanks—to be injected into the fields.”
“Part 117 of the Michigan Legislation, which lays out all of the requirements for a Licensed Septage Hauler to apply for a license to land apply nutrients, far exceeds the requirements stipulated in the township permit.”
“Part 117 of the Michigan Legislation supersedes the Centerville Township’s ordinance.”
“The Suttons Bay treatment facility continues to have significant constraints in supporting their very localized constituent septic waste.”
“At this site we are only applying Holding Tank waste, which is nearly 90% water.”
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