Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Storing biosolids in manure pits tanked - for now

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The idea of using former manure tanks in Middlesex Centre as a storage hub for municipal biosolids is a bust – for now.

On Wednesday, Ontario Municipal Board member Steven Stefanko adjourned a hearing into whether the municipality should have allowed zoning for the project.

That’s good news for concerned residents, says Linda Peters, a member of NUBS.org Environmental Protection Committee, a local group that has raised $30,000 to date to fight the issue.

Bartels Environmental wanted to store biosolids from Elora in a former manure pit on the property of Nick and Colleen Wiendels. (Better Farming, March, 2008) The province requires rezoning before considering environmental approval. Responding to vehement community protest, the municipality, located near London, rejected the Wiendels’ application.

Extended storage of biosolids – sewage and other municipal waste - in on-farm lagoons or tanks is not new. Until recently, provincial environmental laws prohibited storing the material on one farm and spreading it on others. Now, with environmental approval, Bartels can spread the material elsewhere. For this reason those supporting or protesting the proposal regard its outcome as precedent setting.

The Wiendels and Bartels appealed Middlesex Centre’s decision to the Board, an independent tribunal that hears appeals under the provincial Planning Act.

At a pre-hearing in May, the Board rejected a request from the municipality and NUBS.org to establish a joint hearing involving the OMB and the Environmental Review Tribunal.

Stefanko adjourned the Middlesex Centre hearing after learning a court is deciding if joint hearings are appropriate in another case. A divisional court panel is determining if an appeal about a golf course proposal in Aurora should go to a joint board. No date has yet been set for delivering a decision.

“It could go on for months or even years,” says Peters.

In the meantime, Bartels and the Wiendels can request a joint hearing, says Cathy Saunders, Middlesex Centre’s chief administrative officer.

Saunders says the municipality supported adjournment. “We have always indicated that the environmental issues are linked to the land use issue and both needed to be considered concurrently.”

A joint hearing “would give us more reasons (to explain) why we don’t want that here,” says Peters. If the rezoning application ends up being approved, it could set the precedent for other farmers with unused storage facilities, she adds. “It’s like saying ‘we’re open for business (in Middlesex),’” she says.

John Doherty, Waterloo, the lawyer representing Bartels and the Wiendels, could not be reached for comment.

In March, company owner Ben Bartels said the arrangement would offer the convenience of its own storage facility close to the farms where the sewage would eventually be spread. Middlesex Centre is roughly 70 kilometres from Elora. He affirmed that if the company is successful in obtaining the provincial approvals, he’d consider exploring the arrangement elsewhere. BF
 

Current Issue

June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Cattle Stress Tool May Boost Fertility

Friday, June 27, 2025

Kansas State University researchers have developed a cool tool that may help reduce cattle stress and improve artificial insemination (AI) results. The idea came from animal science experts Nicholas Wege Dias and Sandy Johnson, who observed that cattle accustomed to their environment... Read this article online

Ontario pasture lands get $5M boost

Friday, June 27, 2025

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $5 million to strengthen shared community grazing pastures. This funding supports the province’s plan to protect Ontario’s agriculture sector and help cattle farmers improve pasture quality, ensuring long-term sustainability and... Read this article online

Health Canada sets rules for drone spraying

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Health Canada has approved the use of drones, also called Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), for pesticide application under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA). Drones are considered aircraft by Transport Canada, but Health Canada treats them differently due to their unique... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top