Pilot testing: Epidemiologic Surveillance and Investigation of
Complaints/Symptoms of Illness Reported by Neighbors of Biosolids Land
Application and other Soil Amendments
Project #08-HHE-5PP
Principal Investigator: Paul Rosile, Franklin
County Board of Health
WERF Program Manager: Lola Olabode
Background
Since the 1970s the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
the wastewater treatment industry has been challenged by the production
and ultimate disposal of sewage sludge. In the United States, over seven
million tons (dry weight) of residual sludge are produced each year and
most of this sludge, or biosolids, is applied to farm fields.
This project will pilot test a 5-step investigation protocol which
includes the administration of questionnaires to neighbors of land
application sites complaining of health effects, to biosolids
generators, and to appliers. The protocol also documents the location of
the site and pertinent site characteristics. The research team will
attempt to complete at least 50 investigations over the length of the
project. They will perform a scientific evaluation of the protocol and
will use the results to modify the protocol so that it can be used by a
broad base of stakeholders for future data collection.
The ultimate success of the project will be the sustainable use of
the protocol by a broad base of interested parties. These parties should
be able to collect a sufficient quantity of quality data on complaints
of health effects and other related information, in order to more fully
understand the etiology of health effects and biosolids that are land
applied.
Present Status
In January 2009, the researchers completed an Internal Review Board
(IRB) application and submitted it for approval after communicating with
IRB staff on numerous occasions regarding consent and confidentiality
issues. Following the IRB advice, they submitted an application for a
waiver of written consent because they believed the data collection
methods not only protected confidentiality, but the “health”
data collected did not rise to the level of a medical record or data
collected from a clinical trial.
The research team compiled a preliminary database of all interested
parties and volunteers who will be assisting them. They will not only
refer complaints from all over the state of Ohio to a central web-based
secure portal; but will also volunteer their time and skills to field
test the questionnaire, asking questions about alleged health effects
from the land application and other soil amendments. To field test the
questionnaire, the team sent requests to environmental health directors
and epidemiologists at local health departments. They also needed to
instruct a wide range of professional organizations on how to refer
complaints; they contacted the administrator of the Ohio Federation of
Soil and Water Conservation Districts (OFSWCD), county sanitary
engineers belonging to the County Sanitary Engineers Association of Ohio
(CSEAO), and three state agencies involved in the issue of the land
application of biosolids or manure: the Ohio Department of Health (ODH),
the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), and the Ohio Department
of Agriculture (ODA). These contacts provided additional names of
partners from waste water treatment plants that land-apply their
biosolids and from county OSU extension offices.
Since data management is a key component of the project’s
success, the researchers conceptualized a system of partners receiving
permission with passwords and usernames to access a web based portal.
They will use that portal to enter complaints of health effects and all
data from the five questionnaires, in real time using a mobile broadband
provider. This portal is at http://www.ohiobiosolidsresearchpartners.org/franklincounty/.
Even though the website is not “live” it is available for
review. In another outreach accomplishment, the researchers are
developing a rough draft of a newsletter entitled “Ohio Biosolids
Research Partners: dedicated to research on the healthy disposal of
biosolids and other soil amendments.”
Future Direction
The research team continues to solicit volunteers to field test
or refer complaints. They are also looking for interested parties who
want periodic updates of accomplishments. They will contact and ask for
support from all 88 SWCDs, as well as the Ohio Farm Bureau, the Ohio
Township Association, local leaders in the agricultural community, local
elected officials, and generators of biosolids who have been referred to
the research team, among others. They will meet with the ODA, the ODH,
and the ODNR in order to strengthen the coordination of the response to
this issue. The team will review the protocol evaluation methodology and
an interviewer training manual in January. They also anticipate
completing the portal including web access to all 5 questionnaires and
the complaint form. They have scheduled initial brainstorming
conferences with the National Association of City and County Health
Officials to develop a framework for an outreach and implementation
communication plan. Training will begin for all field-testing biosolids
staff from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and local health
departments.
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