VENTURA : City Hopes to Resume Composting Project

After being ordered to shut down a composting operation because of potential health impacts, Ventura city officials said Wednesday that they hope to resume the project next month.

In a letter dated Sept. 29, the county Environmental Health Division described the composting project at Ventura Harbor as “basically unmanaged.”

The letter also said there was no documentation indicating that required tests were performed or that recipients of the material knew the restrictions attached to its use.

As a result of the county’s action, the city has notified several dozen commercial agricultural businesses that the material they received, which was made from sewage sludge, is a Class B compost.

Federal regulations list a variety of restrictions for Class B compost. It cannot be used on land prone to flooding or where endangered species live. Food crops that touch the sewage sludge mixture cannot be harvested for 14 months, and crops that grow below the surface cannot be harvested for 20 months. Animals cannot graze on the land for 30 days.

Ventura Public Works Director Ron Caulkins said the city is working with the county to improve its operation so that it can begin producing Class B compost again within 30 days. The goal of the project is to find a use for sewage sludge and avoid sending it to a landfill. The city produces about 1,000 tons of sewage sludge each month.

Caulkins said the city is investigating the process involved with producing Class A sludge--a material that requires more intensive treatment but has fewer restrictions.

“The people that are operating it and our operations people are moving into new territory, and so there’s a learning curve people go through,” he said.