Sludge Disposal Solution Moves Another Step Closer

A possible solution to San Diego’s nagging sewage sludge problem was forged Wednesday when a City Council committee authorized the design of a system to dry sludge and use it as soil conditioner in the San Pasqual Valley.

The Public Services and Safety Committee voted, 3-0, to authorize the design of a system that would involve drying the solid byproduct of sewage treatment on Navy property at Miramar Naval Air Station and using it as soil amendment on city-owned agricultural land. The authorization allows the Water Utilities Department to begin negotiating with the Navy for use of the site, formerly a city-run sanitary landfill.

“It’s significant because we have been encouraged for a number of years to move the sludge off Fiesta Island,” said a spokesman for the Water Utilities Department, referring to the location currently used for stockpiling sludge. “Here is our chance.”

Under the project, which is expected to be designed by late 1987 and built by late 1989, the sludge would be air-dried in paved beds. If the quantities exceeded demand in the San Pasqual Valley, it might be used by the AM-SOD sod farm in the Tijuana River valley or it could be composted, marketed and distributed, the spokesman said.

Designing the system will cost as much as $2 million. Construction should cost $22.3 million.

Before 1979, San Diego’s sludge was mixed with seaweed and used as soil conditioner on city land such as the grassy areas of Mission Bay Park. But declining demand for soil conditioner and tightened regulations on landfill disposal forced the city to begin stockpiling sludge on Fiesta Island, city officials say.

In 1981, the California Coastal Commission gave the city six years to remove the sludge. Earlier this year, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board accused the city of illegally dumping sludge on city-owned land at Brown Field. The city is now transferring that sludge to the county’s Otay landfill.