West Covina : Sludge Shipments Reduced
Los Angeles has started toward its goal of halving the amount of sewage sludge it sends daily to the BKK Corp. Landfill.
Earlier this month, 85% of the 1,200 tons of sludge the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation produced each day was being sent to BKK, said Harry Sizemore, assistant director of the bureau.
But that amount was recently reduced to 67%, after Ag-Tech, an agricultural company, began shipping 18% of the total to Yuma, Ariz., for use as fertilizer.
Los Angeles began sending sludge to BKK from its trouble-plagued Hyperion sewage treatment plant in the fall of 1987 to meet a Dec. 31, 1987, federal deadline to stop dumping sludge in the ocean.
In response to protests by area residents, the West Covina council two months ago asked the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation when its use of the BKK Landfill would be reduced.
In response, Delwin Biagi, director of the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, outlined a tentative schedule for phasing out the shipments to BKK and Chiquita Canyon Landfill near Castaic.
The plan calls for 700 tons to go to landfills in January, 450 tons in July and 350 tons in January, 1990.
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