Farm Gets First Sludge Delivery : Waste: The load trucked to Antelope Valley for a demonstration may be only a whiff of things to come.

The first load of sewage sludge to be trucked into the Antelope Valley from Los Angeles was used as fertilizer on a remote farm Wednesday, giving the area a preview of a larger program that may soon get under way.

In a special demonstration for a visiting Environmental Protection Agency official, the city spread about 20 tons of the concentrated waste material. Within two months, Los Angeles could begin exporting up to 100 tons a day to the site.

The demonstration had two glitches. There was a dispute over who asked for the demonstration, and state water board officials said they were surprised by the offensive smell.

Los Angeles, which produces about 1,350 tons a day of the black sewage solids, has been looking for cheaper and closer disposal alternatives than the farm fields it has been using in distant Riverside County and in Yuma, Ariz.

Los Angeles officials insist that using the sludge as a farm fertilizer will not cause odor problems or contaminate ground water. The agricultural reuse of sludge is more common in the East, but it has been done sporadically in Los Angeles County.

Wednesday’s demonstration occurred at a 640-acre ranch 14 miles west of Lancaster in a remote agricultural area. Bio Gro Systems Inc., the private firm hired by the city to manage the sludge reuse program, plans to use the same site once the larger sludge program commences.

A truck brought the sludge from the city’s Hyperion sewage treatment plant near El Segundo earlier in the day, traveling up the San Diego and Antelope Valley freeways. As about 25 people watched, a spreader sent the sludge flying over a 15- to 20-foot arc.

Lauren Fondahl, the EPA’s regional sludge coordinator, said she had no comment on the demonstration. The state Regional Water Quality Control Board in May granted permission for the full program, but it has yet to start because the city and Bio Gro have not met all the conditions.

State water board officials said they granted special permission for Wednesday’s test after being told the EPA had asked to see it. But EPA officials said they had not done so, insisting the demonstration was done entirely at the city of Los Angeles’ behest.

As it lay on the ground in a heap, the sludge had only a mild fertilizer smell. But once the spreader flung it into the air, a foul smell spread over the farm. Said one water board official, “It smells bad.”