Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/147897
Sarasota News Leader August 2, 2013 Page 27 here amid the peaceful trees alongside the riv- stuff, which, she charged, was originating er, she can't imagine doing that now. from a "biosolids application site" just upriver. The EPA defines biosolids as "the nutrient-rich "Personally, my sense of smell is almost shot, organic materials" left over after treating sewso I don't really have much of a sense of age, sludge that can be "safely recycled and smell," says Terry Mackintosh, who owns the applied as fertilizer to sustainably improve property just upriver from Bowen's. "My wife, and maintain productive soils and stimulate though, she said it really stank." The muck plant growth." on Mackintosh's land showed up after a flood that slowly drained away. "It was just black," Since the late 1990s, the Terra Ceia "Residual he says of the residue. Management" company Appalachian Material Service has dumped such sludge on 891 "This is not normal decaying river leaves," acres located along M & J Road in Myakka points out Bowen, gesturing to the muck. But City, just across the street from the river. what is it? Responding to Bowen's complaints about Months ago, Bowen reached out to the Flori- the muck on her property, both the state Deda Department of Environmental Protection, partment of Environmental Protection and as well as to the Manatee County Natural Re- Manatee County inspected the site and found sources Department, to complain about the bupkus — nothing wrong. The sludge is easily visible, in a variety of states.