Benefits of biosolids spread across decades of research

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The yellow and green vehicle is a new piece of equipment used to spread biosolids at the Meadow Springs Ranch in Colorado. Biosolids are a product of the wastewater treatment process that are treated to enhance beneficial properties.

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Biosolids delivered to a field to be spread over the land so they can provide valuable nutrients to soil and plants. Biosolids supply crops, such as wheat and corn, with more of the mineral, zinc.

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Biosolids are visible on top of the soil in the wheat field during hot, dry and windy conditions. The biosolids were applied about 10 months prior to the photo taken. Applying biosolids has been found to improve the health of the soil in semi-arid grazed rangeland settings to allow plant growth as a source of food for animals like cattle.

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Jim Ippolito, right, and Steve Blecker, left, perform soil sampling in wheat-fallow rotation plots. The plots have received agronomic biosolids applications since 1999. Ippolito’s research highlights the benefits of biosolids land application to raise plants to feed animals, to raise crops to feed people and to do those things safely.

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Jim Ippolito Colorado State University

For more than four decades, biosolids have been applied to land and studied by researchers for many useful purposes. Biosolids are a product of the wastewater treatment process. Yes that means sewage. However the sewage is treated carefully to ensure it has beneficial properties and is not harmful.