CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina officials are pushing for tighten restrictions when it comes to spreading sludge on local land, but Charlotte Water isn't fully on board.
Some critics have said that could jeopardize the public's health.
Charlotte Water keeps sludge at a west Charlotte facility and then distributes it to farmers to help grow their crops.
Sludge is treated sewage used as a natural fertilizer to help grow food.
However, sludge can also contain toxic chemicals known as PCBs.
"They can cause a lot of health problems and we need to make sure they don't disperse over thousands of acres," Riverkeeper Sam Perkins said.
The North Carolina Department of Natural and Environmental Resources issued a permit requiring Charlotte Water to test that sludge for PCBs to prevent PCBs from getting into food or contaminating the water system.
The permit names a specific test.
"You need to be using the method that everyone else in the country is using," Perkins said.
Charlotte Water has asked the state to let it use other options.
"We want to do a test that accomplishes our results and that there are labs around that can do that for us," Barry Gullet, with Charlotte Water, said.
The permit would also require Charlotte Water to notify the public exactly when and where sludge is being spread. Officials said that language is too restrictive.
"We need to have some flexibility to make some last minute changes," Gullet said.
Charlotte Water officials say agency is still working with the state to revise the permit and there is no word on how long that will take.
After last year's illegal dumping of PCBs in local waterways, Charlotte Water officials said they know just how devastating PCBs can be and they continue to work to prevent any future public risk.
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