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Farmers offered free Ashland sewage BY DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- The city is giving away free fertilizer. But this isn't Miracle Gro. It's "treated liquid biosolids"--in other words, mostly sanitized human waste. "I don't know if you can get 500 pounds of pumpkins out of it, but it works really well," said Richard Marshall, the wastewater treatment supervisor. "We have one farmer we ship to who stopped using chemical fertilizers and went from two hay cuttings to three a year." The city of Ashland is searching for temporary agricultural sites to apply the former flushings. The treated sewage, from Ashland's Wastewater Treatment Plant, is good for soil amendment and is relatively high in phosphorous and other nutrients. It is used on farm fields for the production of hay or grazing crops. And not to worry, it doesn't smell like an outhouse. "It smells like a musty earth type of smell," Marshall said. "And, it's a great fertilizer." But, it is not appropriate for raw food crops meant for human consumption. Although the percentage of bacteria on the treated sewage is less than the wastewater treatment facility puts into Bear Creek, it's still not the best idea to grab a carrot coated with the stuff and eat it raw. "There's an extremely remote chance there still might be some bacteria on there," Marshall said. The Department of Environmental Quality has several rules for the places to be fertilized with the treated sewage: the areas must be 10 acres or larger and have slopes of no more than 10 percent. Grazing animals will not be allowed on the site for pasturing for 30 days after application. This isn't some farmer's lucky-for-life fertilizer plan though. The city will only be trucking the treated sewage to agricultural fields for the next year. After that, officials hope to start processing the treated sewage on city asphalt drying beds on 20 acres of a 180-acre city site between Butler Creek Road and Mountain Avenue on the north side of Interstate 5. After being dried, the treated sewage will used like a chemical fertilizer on the rest of the 180 acres. The city site is currently covered in star thistle, but Marshall said after the city's fertilizer program gets going it will look like a grass-covered park. "It will be pretty year-around," he said. "And will cut down the fire danger." But for the next year, they need somewhere to truck the brownish, musty-smelling liquid. Interested people should contact Terry Ellis or Marshall at 488-5348. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA