Living in the country means experiencing all sorts of smells. But last December, Lisa Stacy noticed an odor unlike any other. It permeated her nose and clothes.
“Initially, I really thought a deer got hit by a car,” Stacy said.
Stacy inquired about the smell on her neighborhood’s community Facebook page, as well as an Oglethorpe County community page. She learned the smell wasn’t a deer or any other animal.
Instead, it came from soil amendments, also known as sludge, from a property near her home in Hawk’s Landing.
“We wondered if somebody had died,” Stacy said. “It was that horrible.”
Applications of soil amendments had been applied on land near the intersection of Suddeth and Crawford-Smithonia roads, continuing the saga of residents throughout Oglethorpe County who have been battling soil amendments for years.
“That’s when I found out what it was,” Stacy said. “And I was horrified to find out that this is allowed.”
Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jay Paul said the company that applied the sludge has moved on, but concern about the smell and what’s included in the amendments remain.
“I mean, if there's no odor people don’t complain,” said Paul, who is steadfast about his opposition to soil amendments. “But the time the site starts receiving applications, the phone starts ringing shortly thereafter.”
Most residents are vocal about their concerns on social media, like Facebook community pages. Stacy and fellow Hawk’s Landing resident Elizabeth Stich did what others have done.
They spoke at last month’s Board of Commissioners meeting.
Melanie Parker, who has lived in Arnoldsville for 5½ years, is a horticulturist who first heard about soil amendments at an Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners meeting.
She said she isn’t opposed to soil amendments as a whole, but is concerned about companies that may be “using” residents.
Soil amendments are meant to have certain chemical and physical properties before they’re applicable to land. Although, some residents might not know the difference when companies come asking to dump sludge.
“There could be heavy metals in there that could leach into the groundwater, and that could absolutely affect people in this county that are not on site, that could be affecting them down the stream,” Parker said. “It gets in the groundwater and then starts to spread everywhere, just like cancer.”
The county passed a soil amendment ordinance in 2023 that states applications could not be within 100 feet of property lines, among other restrictions.
Because of that ordinance, Paul said the county has “some boots on the ground” so it isn’t dependent on the Georgia Department of Agriculture. But officials have limited authority, so Paul suggests residents advocate against the companies that apply sludge.
“That’s what’s going to get their attention the most,” Paul said. “Because it’s become obvious to me that depending on the state legislature to address, it’s not gonna happen.”
Stacy created a petition that urges residents to “demand an end to the spread of dangerous biosolids in Oglethorpe County and to safeguard the health, property values and quality of life for everyone in our community.”
This petition had 203 signatures through Tuesday afternoon.
On the Facebook community groups, residents will share links to lodge complaints against those who dump sludge.
Parker sees bringing light to the situation is a step in the right direction. She said she hopes that working with residents and the county will help her gain all the facts about sludge dumping to share with neighbors.
“There are a lot of people that live in rural counties that don’t understand, and it’s not their fault,” Parker said.