Help! Salmonella in sewage sludge
P.R.Herron at Swansea.ac.uk
Wed Aug 2 06:39:14 EST 1995
In article <3vgo4s$6h5$1 at mhafn.production.compuserve.com>, Patrick Loewen <75121.677 at CompuServe.COM> says:
>My name is Patrick Loewen. I am living in Luxembourg, in a small town called Lintgen. I am a member of
>our local environment commission. I need an advice on something that happened a month ago.
>A neighboring sewage plant had her sludge bring out on several fields on top of a hill near Lintgen. This was
>authorized by the environment administration, as analyses showed no metal or bacteriological contamination.
>But several people in Lintgen worried about the quantity of sludge that was brought out. They protested at
>the environment administration. This one did another analyse at the sewage plant 2 weeks later. This analyse
>showed a Salmonella infection of the sludge. Was it already contaminated as it was brought out? No one
>could give an answer.
>Now, many people worry, because on the foot of this hill is a fountain where Lintgen gets its drinkeng water
>from. The administration says that the sludge was not brought out in the water protection zones, but they
>are small because of the agricultural activity on the hill.
>My questions are:
>Can Salmonella survive in the soil and contaminate the groundwater?
>If not, is there any danger of bringing out Salmonella in this way?
>Should we convince our municipality to prevent future sludge bring outs?
>You would really help me if you can give me answers.
>75121.677 at compuserve.com
You could contact Liz Wellington at the University of Warwick
in England and ask her. She's on holiday 'til mid August, but I'm sure
she'd contact you shortly after that. Her research group have published
many papers on Salmonella survival in soil so would certainly be able
to answer your questions. E-mail: EG at dna.bio.warwick.ac.uk
Good luck !
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