Hot Sludge

Ed. note: The articles cited about Lowry were in the years prior to the "recycled water" component of the deal being engineered. Read entire article here.

A Denver based engineering firm tested for contaminants in Lowry groundwater. The result: High levels of radiation everywhere over the site.

Another firm commissioned by the EPA and others, found levels of plutonium and associated isotopes 10,000 times higher than naturally occurring.

Conveniently, by about 1993, the EPA decided to put on a pair of verbal flip flops --- now , the plutonium laced waste was suitable for sewage sludge. It could be mixed, diluted or whatever with municipal wastewater. That was a much cheaper means of dealing with unacceptable levels of radioactivity.

Flopping its assessment meant that clean up dropped from billions of dollars to less than $100 million. Obviously, there are contentions that the EPA studies were “flawed” and that the cleanup board had mutants sitting amongst the environmentalists. Due to the “sludge” safety reports, the product was spread on farmlands from Virginia to Oregon.

The Christian Science Monitor reported that H.J. Heinz and Del Monte refused to buy tomatoes, beans, and other fruits and veggies fertilized with sludge.

SEWAGE TREATMENT

As for the ground water and other contaminants, the “stuff” from Lowry was dumped into Metro Wastewater . The EPA maintained that millions of gallons of Lowry (plutonium) laced toxic water could run through sewer pipes before high readings of hazardous materials would be detected.

One lab technician at the Denver Wastewater plan opted for early retirement when they began to accept Lowry waste. Marilyn Ferrari, the technician, told the Monitor, management had “pressured” technicians to “make readings look right… if numbers came in high, they would say, retest.”