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We have cities which find some way of getting rid of seage and other wastes produced by million of people. We also have agricultural soils being depleted of organic material by mono-cultural practices, which forces the employment of excessive amounts of energy-demanding nitrate fertilizers, as well as other chemicals. The fertilizers, washing from farmlands and into streams, lakes, or estuaries create an additional pollution problem. The system is obviously disrupted and what could be a healthy recycling does not take place.
The magnitude of the urban sewage problem cannot be dismissed lightly. New York City must do something with 5 million cubic yards of sewage sludge ― the end product of its sewage, treatment plants, each year. It has tackled the problem by hauling it in barges, miles off shore and dumping it. The sewage dumping ground has long been an unhealthy part of the ocean, since about square miles of ocean bottom are now covered with a concentrated mass of sludge, and can support only anaerobic forms of life. In theory this sludge is supposed to work its way down a submarine canyon into the ocean deeps. However, it has not obliged, and recently has been working its way back toward the beaches. Properly processed and returned to the land, this could be valuable fertilizer. Left alone it is a menace to marine life and a health threat to people.
Chicago, by contrast, has attempted to solve its problem in a more rational way, using it to restore the soils of about 36.000 acres of marginal farm lands and strip-mined areas. Although the digected and chemically treated sludge represents no menace to health, citizens in the recipient areas have filed suit against the city of Chicago to prevent further dumping, since they fear some unknown disease hazard may creep upon them. The belief that anything organic is filthy is widespread among Americans ― an unfortunate by-product of mishandled health education, and a directs product of advertising campaigns.