Biosolid Applications to Mississippi Soils

Industrial by-products are often land applied to provide nutrients and organic matter for growing crops and for other soil amendment purposes. Categories of by-products include municipal biosolids, drinking water residuals, by-product gypsum, poultry processing residuals, pulp and paper lime mud, and boiler ash. The municipal biosolids have been treated to stabilize organic matter and reduce pathogens; they are not raw sewage. Often other solid wastes become available to growers and may be land applied. This publication addresses the environmental rules and regulations for land applying these by-products in the state of Mississippi. The requirements may differ in other states. Land application of animal wastes are addressed by Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) water quality permits that follow nutrient management plans usually developed in Mississippi by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) for submission to MDEQ for review. Those plans follow best management practices as described by the NRCS Conservation Practice Standards