BS Ranch & Farm, an alleged soil-manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Lakeland, has stopped accepting waste from septic tank haulers, The Ledger in Lakeland reports.
This move comes following Polk County’s filing for an injunction to halt the waste flow, arguing the site near Saddle Creek, a major tributary of the Peace River, has become an unpermitted waste dump rather than a processing facility.
The creation of BS Ranch, which opened a decade ago without obtaining either environmental or land-use permits, has been the source of odor complaints and years of legal disputes.
BS Ranch’s decision to halt accepting waste leaves septic tank companies looking for legal places to dispose of the waste from tens of thousands of homes and business served by septic tanks in Polk County.
Polk County officials have been discussing alternative disposal sites, but nothing has been developed or funded and it may be some time before any facility that gains approval will be ready to accept waste.
The disposal of wastes from septic tanks and sewer plants and their environmental and health impacts has been an issue in Florida for several years.
1000 Friends of Florida will sponsor a webinar on sewer plant sludge, which is sometimes described by the neutral-sounding term biosolids Nov. 8 online.
For more information, go to Upcoming Webinars – 1000 Friends of Florida (1000fof.org