Section 405 of the Clean Water Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and issue regulations that identify: (1) uses for sludge including disposal; (2) specify factors (including costs) to be taken into account in determining the measures and practices applicable for each use or disposal; and (3) concentrations of pollutants that interfere with each use or disposal. To comply with this mandate, the U.S. EPA has embarked on a program to develop four major technical regulations: land application, including distribution and marketing; landfilling; incineration and surface disposal. The report is one of a series whose purpose is to use the methodology described in 'Pathogen Risk Assessment for Land Application of Municipal Sludge' to develop preliminary assessments of risk to human health posed by parasites, bacteria and viruses in municipal sewage sludge applied to land as fertilizer or soil conditioner. The preliminary risk assessment includes a description of the most critical data gaps that must be filled before development of a definitive risk assessment and recommends research priorities.

"EPA/600/6-91/006." "July 1991." Includes bibliographical references.