Guide for revegetation of mined land in Eastern United States using municipal sludge

Book · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6585826

Sopper, W E; Seaker, E M

The use of municipal sewage sludge to reclaim and revegetate land disturbed by mining activity could deal with two major problems (the 60% of land still unreclaimed and the increasing problem of finding landfills for sewage sludge disposal). An alternative to using sludge as an agricultural fertilizer (and possibly introducing heavy metals into the food chain) is to reclaim marginal and disturbed lands. Guidelines for metal loadings in sludge application for reclamation suggest following those developed for agricultural applications. Regulations to date only cover cadmium, but the guidelines include lead, zinc, curium, and niobium. Other regulations cover permit applications, public participation, site investigations, constraints based on the sludge characteristics, and the selection and management of vegetations. A monitoring program is necessary to assure compliance. The appendix identifies appropriate plants for revegetation. 97 references, 12 figures, 12 tables.

• OSTI ID: 6585826
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
290400 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
510500* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
510600 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Regulations-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
DOCUMENT TYPES
LAND RECLAMATION
LAND USE
LAWS
MINING LAWS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
PERMIT APPLICATIONS
PLANTS
REGULATORY GUIDES
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
REVEGETATION
SLUDGES
SOIL CONSERVATION
SURFACE MINING ACTS
WASTES