&EPA
United States Environmental        Office of Water          EPA-822-F-03-003
Protection Agency               4304T                April 2003

FACT SHEET	
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To efficiently handle the many broad-ranging recommendations in the report, EPA organized the
strategy into these eight categories:
• Survey of Chemicals and Pathogens in Land-Applied Sewage Sludge
• Exposure Assessment
• Risk Assessment
• Methods Development
• Pathogens
• Human Health Studies
• Regulatory Activities
• Biosolids Management
Review of Existing Sewage Sludge Regulations
The CWA requires EPA to review the sewage sludge regulations every two years to identify
additional toxic pollutants in sewage sludge, if any, that may need to be regulated. The Federal
Register notice summarizes EPA’s review and solicits comment on the preliminary results.
To date, EPA has not identified any additional pollutants for possible regulatory action. EPA will be
conducting further analyses to ascertain whether there are additional toxic pollutants in sewage
sludge that may need to be regulated. After public comment, EPA will publish specific pollutants for
possible regulation in a Federal Register notice in early 2004.
How to Get Additional Information
To review the NRC report (“Biosolids Applied to Land: Advancing Standards and Practices’) or get
more information on sewage sludge, you can visit the Internet at
http://www.epa.gov/watersciencefbiosolids/ or contact Agnes Ortiz at (202)566-1303 or Alan B.
Rubin at (202)566-1125.
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