"Bio-solid Scare on Painter Road"

The sight of a Wessuc bio-sludge truck at the end of Painter Road on Monday drew the attention of land protectors Floyd and Ruby Montour and a few others who went over to the site to investigate the situation.

The farm owner, Hetty Bootsma assured the Montours that it was not bio-solid sludge at all. But rather, it was normal animal manure that was being delivered to her farm under the oversight and order of the Ministry of the Environment.

According to Ms. Bootsma and Wessuc manager Rich Vanveen, there was a problem at a farm on Greenfield Road where their concrete holding pit for manure had given way, so to protect the environment the MOE looked up Wessuc, who have the trucks and equipment to suck up the manure and transport it.

As it so happens, Ms. Bootsma had an empty manure pit close by at the end of Painter Road and the MOE contracted Wessuc to transport the Greenfield Road manure to the Bootsma farm.

"We used to raise pigs and used the pit to store manure which I used to spread on the fields every spring," she said. "We stopped raising pigs and so the pit was empty. We will spread it this spring when the ground is dry."

The Bootsma family has owned and operated the farm since 1962.

"We have spills experience and tankers to haul it away with," said Vanveen "We're just trying to keep it from going into the creek. That's all we are trying to do."

Wessuc is this regions number one producer and distributer of what is now called bio-solids to be used as fertilizers for certain crops. There is controversy over the use of processed human waste for food production, although the MOE has given approval for its use. A Six Nation Band Council Resolution outlawed its use on Six Nations reserve land several years ago.

Wessuc has been stopped from spreading the heavy black sludge many times by a number of Six Nations land protectors when they have been working close to Six Nations. The Montours want to see the practice banned throughout the entire Haldimand Tract.

Soon MOE officials and the police were on hand, but Floyd Montour still insisted that he have a sample to prove if, in fact, it was animal manure and not human waste. Vanveen refused

"They (Six Nations land protecters) took a small sample before and supposedly found all kinds of nasty stuff in it," said Vanveen. "Anyone can put whatever they want in it once it l;eaves here. If a lab technician or the City or the MOE want a sample, I'd say sure, but I'm not about to hand out samples to just anyone."

In time the Montours left still not completely convinced, but convinced enough to let it go, this time.