Sludge causes a stink

4:50pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

SLUDGE created from human excrement is causing a stink among villagers.

Several have complained about a sewage-like smell wafting across Mobberley.

Jim Shepherd, chairman of the parish council, said he received 15 reports about the strange odour.

“I’ve had more complaints about that than anything else,” he said.

United Utilities delivered the treated sewage to a field off Breach House Lane more than a week ago.

About 1,000 tons of the sludge have now been piled on the land.

Farmer Ray Britland, who owns the field, declined to comment.

But his National Farmers’ Union spokesman Richard Reeves, of Tattondale Farm, said the use of treated sewage was nothing new.

“From an environmental point of view it’s the thing to do,” he said. Sewage used to be dumped into the world’s oceans, but that method was banned in the UK.

Now much of the human excrement is treated and incinerated.

However, some of the sewage is treated and then used as fertiliser.

The sludge, which contains phosphates and nitrogen, comes from nearby treatment works.

It is piled in a field until the crops are harvested and the land can be ploughed. Mr Shepherd said some villagers could smell the waste in other lanes and streets.

“It’s in fields and it’s very open in that area,” he said. Jerry Amann, 41, who lives in nearby Pepper Street, could smell the sludge but believed it was a blockage in the drains.

“It’s been quite a strong smell,” he said.

Neil Davenport, who runs the nearby Chapel House Inn, said he thought the same.

“It was stronger than I would expect. It was a stink that you’d associate with drains,” he said.

United Utilities last week apologised for the odours.

But it said using the waste as fertiliser was good for the environment and farmers’ land.

“The good news is that once the sludge is applied to the soil, the odour disappears,” said spokesman Christian Ewen.

Mr Reeves has used the sludge, which is regulated by the Environment Agency, for 10 years.

He said it helped farmers who were struggling with the soaring cost of fertiliser.

“It’s a valuable resource,” he said.

“We try to be sensitive with it and be aware of a public nuisance angle.”