The nature and extent of environmental health concerns surrounding the use of sludge and biosolids from wastewater treatment in agriculture - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages (Perlman 2009; U.S. Department of Labour 2007; Willis 2001) This can be done by purifying the wastewater in order to remove and destroy harmful materials such as chemical compounds, microorganisms, debris, and other solid materials. (U.S. Department of Labour 2007)
To provide the readers with a better understanding concerning the research topic, the process of conventional wastewater treatment will first be tackled in details. Upon discussing the importance of primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment process in purifying the wastewater, the researcher will discuss the environmental and health concerns of using sludge or sewage biosolids that comes from the wastewater treatment plant for food agricultural activities. To avoid the increase of developing life threatening diseases such as cholera and cancer among others, the researcher will thoroughly discuss the importance of making the use of sludge and biosolids found wastewater illegal for agricultural purposes.
Upon weighing the advantages and disadvantages of using biosolids as fertilizer in agricultural activities, the research findings of Goodman and Goodman (2006) revealed that the negative impact of using biosolids as fertilizer is approximately three times more than the positive impact of recycling biosolids. Despite the environmental and health threats of using sewage products, a lot companies that manufacture fertilizers are using sludge or sewage biosolids as one of the major components of fertilizers used in food agriculture. (Lewis, Booth and Hill 2004; Richards, et al. 2004)
Concerning the harmful health effects of using biosolids as fertilizer in agriculture, the purpose of this research study is to educate the people around the world and to persuade the farmers to avoid using fertilizers that uses sludge or biosolids coming from the wastewater treatment for agricultural purposes.
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