What to do about municipal sludge? That remains a question where the positions so far haven’t changed on either side, and though there’s opportunity for some common ground it for the moment isn’t found at the landfill.

City officials from Cedartown and Rockmart this past Tuesday came before the Board of Commissioners to bring back up an issue from July that was voted down, attempting to allow for the city’s byproduct of sewage processing to find a home in the Grady Road Landfill instead of the cities incurring the expense of trucking it elsewhere for disposal.

The issue in July hit an immediate dead end when the County Commission voted 3-2 against seeking to make the change via the order reached in a lawsuit over landfill operations several years back that was ultimately resolved outside of court.

However the order still stands, and it was clear at the time: no sludge is allowed back into the Grady Road Landfill, without exception, after industrial byproducts were causing a number of operational issues with the burying of municipal household waste at the site.

The cities have since had to bear the cost of disposing of the sludge they used to dump into the landfill without any major cost since Cedartown and Rockmart’s water authorities operate the two sewer systems within the county. The sludge that is generated from the processing of waste from the water system before it is cleaned and returned to Cedar Creek or Euharlee Creek is what’s leftover of the variety of solids that end up in the system.

During the Tuesday evening work session for the county, City Manager Edward Guzman was one of several officials from both Cedartown and Rockmart on hand to ask the county to reconsider their position.

“Thus far, the City of Cedartown has spent over $250,000 on expenses that would not be on the books if the sludge was still being hauled to the Polk County (Grady Road) Landfill. Now, why is this number significantly different from Rockmart? One factor is that Cedartown is currently allowed to land apply sludge in Alabama. That is only a short-term solution. Cedartown’s expenses are on track to increase exponentially if land-application is prohibited,” Guzman said in remarks to the County Commission.

Rockmart City Manager Stacey Smith echoed the sentiment, and told Commissioners that city taxpayers have already paid more than $1 million in fees to haul away their sludge from the wastewater treatment process. It also impacts other areas.

“Due to the increased costs, the cities are now having to consider discharge amounts before recruiting new businesses and industries or allowing expansion,” Smith told Commissioners.

She also reminded the County Commission that residents on septic in unincorporated territories are still users of the wastewater processing plants, because when their septic systems inevitably have to be pumped the resulting waste ends up in one of the two plants. They only allow companies operating in Polk County to empty their tanks on their trucks at the Cedartown or Rockmart plants.

Municipal sludge doesn’t create the same problems as industrial sludge or other forms of waste products that previously were mixed into the landfill along with the byproduct of wastewater treatment. It is inert, has no smell, and does have some practical uses so long as you can find someone to haul it away.

Otherwise, the cities are essentially stuck with big piles of dirt that can’t just be dumped anywhere by law, and so require other landfills for it to find a final resting place.

This in turn generates costs – transportation and dumping – that otherwise would have been much less had the rules against sludge not included the cities. Hundreds of thousands of dollars per year have been spent by both cities since the prohibition went into place against sludge at the landfill.

The cities at this point just want to be heard on the issue, and to try and find a solution that doesn’t impact taxpayers negatively in the future, and eat into what they can utilize local tax dollars on annually instead of paying to haul away the sludge.

“Our position is that this decision should not be based on public opinion, but based on existing agreements and on what is best for all taxpayers of Polk County, including those that live within the city limits of Cedartown and Rockmart,” Smith added during her remarks to the Commission.

Commission chair Hal Floyd noted in a phone interview on Friday that a date for a public session where both sides of the issue – those for allowing municipal sludge into the landfill and those against – will be forthcoming.

Finding the right date to get everyone together for the session is a separate issue into itself.

Floyd said that he is hoping to find a date in late September or onward into October to allow for a session to be held, but that getting all of the county commission in the same place and time due to individual scheduling is still at issue.

He did say a date would be announced as soon as it is set for the hearing.