An environmental assessment was performed at nine study sites across the United States to investigate the effects of utilizing municipal wastewater treatment plant sludge for agricultural purposes. The sites represented a wide range of sludge applications rates, sludge characteristics, cropping practices, soils, population densities, and climatological and geographical conditions. The assessment included evaluative criteria such as chemical, physical, and microbiological constituents of sludges; surface and subsurface soil properties including presence and accumulation of heavy metals, pesticides, nutrients, bacteria, and parasites; plant characteristics including heavy metal and pesticide uptake, and potential contamination by bacteria and parasites; public attitudes; landspreading costs (capital and operational); current and past operating procedures; and management practices at each of the nine sites.